Northwest European gasoline refining margins rose to $14.49 a barrel on Friday after data showed stocks declined both in the United States and Western Europe.

A total of 1,000 metric tons of Eurobob E5 traded, with BP selling to Varo.

A further 6,000 tons of Eurobob E10 changed hands with Equinor selling to TotalEnergies and ExxonMobil.

Russia’s gasoline production is expected to rise by between 15,000 and 20,000 metric tons in the last third of July as two refineries restart operations, the energy ministry said on Friday.

Gasoline stocks in independently-held storage in the Amsterdam-Rotterdam-Antwerp (ARA) refining hub fell in the week to Thursday by over 1% to 1.11 million tons as flows on the transatlantic route rose, according Insights Global.

U.S. gasoline stocks fell by 2.2 million barrels last week to 231.7 million barrels, the EIA said, compared with analysts’ expectations in a Reuters poll for a 1.3 million-barrel draw.

“While certain EIA data points looked bullish for U.S. gasoline this week – namely a stockdraw concentrated in the Gulf Coast, a rebound in implied demand, and a decline in gasoline yields – a rise in refinery throughput coupled with a 1 mmb build in PADD 1 stocks tempered the mood,” consultancy FGE said in a note.

“A still healthy stocks picture is likely to put the fundamental cap on gasoline cracks below the highs seen last year, though higher chances of U.S. refinery outages could add to bullish sentiment in 3Q,” it added.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Noah Browning; Editing by Susan Fenton)