Northwest European diesel barge refining margins ended the week broadly stable at just over $32 a barrel on Friday after falling regional stockpiles provided price support.

European Union officials discussed diversifying oil stocks and creating a buffer for diesel and gasoil during an emergency meeting of the bloc’s oil coordination group, one official told Reuters.

While EU oil stocks currently meet a 90-day requirement, the official said, they are mostly in crude, whereas Europe’s vulnerability is in diesel and gasoil.

“Red Sea arbs remain the most cost-effective option into Europe and are currently the only ones appearing open. Following closely behind are US Gulf Coast (USGC) arbs,” said Sparta Commodities analyst James Noel-Beswick.

“Europe’s demand is expected to persist as several German refineries, including Bayernoil, are currently experiencing outages,” Noel-Beswick added.

Gasoil stocks held in independent storage in the Amsterdam-Rotterdam-Antwerp (ARA) refining and storage hub dropped by 6% in the week to Thursday, data from Dutch consultancy Insights Global showed. ARA/

Gasoil stocks dropped to 1.75 million metric tons, the lowest since November 2022, due to slower imports and strong exports to northwest Europe and Poland in particular, said Insights Global’s Lars van Wageningen.

Demand up the Rhine was also improving as water levels along the key shipping route continue to rise, he added.

U.S. distillate stockpiles, which include diesel and heating oil, fell by 1.7 million barrels last week to 112.1 million barrels, Energy Information Administration data showed.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Shadia Nasralla, Editing by Tomasz Janowski)