Northwest European gasoline refining margins slumped to around $1.7 a barrel on Friday, a fresh 10-month low, with crude oil futures jumping LCOc1 against the backdrop of higher stockpiles and a period of weaker exports.

Only 4,000 tons of E5 changed hands with Shell as the only buyer.

Brent crude oil benchmark futures up almost $4/bbl on Friday.

“Reduced exports, seasonal lull in demand and switch to cheaper winter grade have combined to send margins sinking to their lowest since December 2022 with refinery closures for maintenance putting a floor to the slide,” said LSEG analyst Raj Rajendran.

Gasoline stocks held in independent storage in the Amsterdam-Rotterdam-Antwerp (ARA) refining and storage hub rose 1.4% to 1.363 million tons in the week to Thursday, Insights Global said.

Gasoline stocks rose partly because of a dip in exports to transatlantic locations, which offset strong inland demand up the Rhine river for the fuel, Insights Global’s Rick Veringmeier said.

Low water levels along the Rhine river and long waiting times at ARA terminals have pushed barge rates higher in recent days, traders and brokers said.

Barges heading to inland markets can load around 50% of capacity due to the low water levels, though inland demand remains strong ahead of winter, they added.

Germany’s 318,400 barrel-per-day (bpd) Miro refinery in Karlsruhe will start six weeks of maintenance work on Thursday, the company said.

Gasoline exports from northwestern Europe to the United States are pencilled in at 553,000 metric tons (mt) in October so far, compared with 777,000 mt last month and 546,000 mt in October 2022, LSEG data showed.

U.S. gasoline stocks fell by 1.3 million barrels in the week to 225.7 million barrels, the EIA said, compared with analysts’ expectations in a Reuters poll for an 800,000-barrel drop.

“(U.S.) inventories are a massive 9.4% more than year-ago levels and are 1% above the five-year average for this time of the year,” LSEG’s Rajendran added.

Gasoline exports from northwestern Europe to West Africa are pencilled in at 872,000 mt in October so far, compared with 764,000 mt last month and 1.3 million mt in October 2022, LSEG data showed.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Shadia Nasralla; Editing by Shilpi Majumdar)