Gasoline stockpiles in independent storage in Europe’s oil-trading hub rose to a 14-month high boosted by imports, according to PJK International BV.
Gasoline inventories in the Amsterdam-Rotterdam-Antwerp area climbed 34 percent to 928,000 metric tons in the week to today as shipments from France, Germany, Russia, Trinidad and Tobago and the U.K. arrived, according to PJK, a researcher in the Netherlands. That’s the highest level since March 17, 2011. The fuel was exported to Argentina, Guinea, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia and South Africa.
“There were lots of imports from Russia and the U.K.,” Patrick Kulsen, commercial director at PJK, said today by phone. “Some customers have reached their maximum tank capacity.”
Gasoil supplies decreased 5.1 percent to 2.27 million tons on exports to Argentina, Guinea and Ghana, according to PJK data. That’s the lowest level since Jan. 19. Cargoes arrived from Canada, France, Russia and the U.K.
Inventories of the fuel, which include heating oil and diesel, fell because of the “steep” backwardation in the futures market, Kulsen said.
“Now is the best time to get rid of your inventory,” he said. Backwardation is a price structure where near term loadings cost more than future deliveries.
Gasoil for June delivery was at $909 a ton as of 4:11 p.m. local time on the ICE Futures Europe exchange in London. The July contract was at $906. On May 10, the backwardation reached $8, the widest spread since Dec. 12.
Source: Bloomberg