Northwest European gasoline refining margins rose by over $2 on Friday to $14.70 a barrel following declines in regional stocks as export economics to the United States became less favourable.

Four Eurobob E5 barges traded as Gunvor, BP and Vitol sold to BMV, ExxonMobil and Mabanaft.

Another three E10 barges traded.

The European Union is set to impose provisional duties on Chinese biodiesel after finding it is being sold in EU markets at unfairly low prices.

Two large oil tankers were on fire on Friday after colliding near Singapore, the world’s biggest refuelling port, with two crew members airlifted to hospital and others rescued from life rafts, authorities and one of the tanker owners said.

Independently held gasoline stocks in storage in the Amsterdam-Rotterdam-Antwerp (ARA) refining and storage hub fell by 5.3% in the week to Thursday, data from Dutch consultancy Insights Global showed.

Gasoline stocks stood at about 1 million metric tons, falling on higher exports to the United States and stronger demand in the ARA region and inland locations, Insight Global’s Lars van Wageningen said.

U.S. gasoline stocks rose by 3.3 million barrels last week to 233 million barrels, the Energy Information Administration said, compared with expectations in a Reuters poll for a 1.6 million-barrel draw.

Gasoline exports from Europe to the U.S. East Coast continue to be limited by weak arbitrage opportunities due to weak U.S. demand, higher blending costs in Europe and higher freight rates, Sparta Commodities analyst Jorge Molinero said.

EU and UK gasoline and blending component exports have reached 1.06 million barrels per day (bpd) so far this month, compared with 1.11 million bpd in June.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Ron Bousso; Editing by Maju Samuel)