Europe Gasoline/Naphtha-Cracks end week above $10 a barrel

Northwest European gasoline refining margins rose to around $10.27 a barrel on Friday, ending the week higher by $2.43 and breaching the $10 threshold for the first time since Jan. 2.

A total of 4,000 metric tons of Eurobob E10 barges traded in the week’s final session. BP sold to Totsa and Shell sold to BP.

Liquidity of Eurobob E5 gasoline was slightly higher at 8,000 tons, with Shell and U.S. firm Musket selling to Totsa.

Petroineos sold Trafigura five premium unleaded barges in the Platts window, and Totsa sold the Swiss trader another.

In the Mediterranean, Vitol bid for a cargo loading Feb. 2-6 at FOB Med swap -$3.00 basis Genoa. No deal was struck.

The European gasoline market was quiet on Friday, traders said, as markets turned focus to the Red Sea, where tensions escalated following U.S. and British strikes on Yemen overnight on Thursday.

But some demand for octane boosting gasoline blending components surfaced in Europe on Friday, one source added.

ARA gasoline stocks fell by 8.1% to 818,000 tons in the week to Thursday, continuing a run of draws that started on Nov. 30 to take stocks to their lowest since October 2021.

The latest gasoline stock draw was driven by firm export demand, while weak blending margins could also have discouraged traders from using ARA storage tanks, Insights Global’s Rick Veringmeier said.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Robert Harvey; Editing by Shailesh Kuber)