Europe Gasoline/Naphtha-Margins end week at near 14-month high

Northwest European gasoline refining margins ended the week slightly up at $33 a barrel, their highest since June 2022, as regional stocks decline and exports continued to support.

Gasoline exports from Europe to North America and West Africa are set to reach 1.48 million metric tons in August, down from 1.8 million tons in the previous month, according to Refinitiv analyst Raj Rajendran.

Exports to the United States declined in August to an estimated 709,000 tons from 973,000 tons in July as peak driving season subsides, Rajendran said in a note.

Exports to West Africa dropped to 775,000 tons from 823,000 tons in July. Overall consumption in Nigeria has shrunk by about 27% since end-May when the government cut fuel subsidies, he said.

Gasoline stocks held in independent storage in the Amsterdam-Rotterdam-Antwerp (ARA) refining and storage hub declined by 8% in the week to Thursday as transatlantic exports picked up, data from Dutch consultancy Insights Global showed.

U.S. gasoline stocks USOILG=ECI rose last week by 1.5 million barrels to 217.6 million barrels, the Energy Information Administration said, compared with forecasts in a Reuters poll for a 900,000-barrel drop.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Ron Bousso; Editing by Shailesh Kuber)