Europe Gasoline/Naphtha-Cracks dip in thin trade, ARA stocks fall

Kitco Media
By Reuters
Published:
Updated:
Reuters
March 9 (Reuters) - Northwest European gasoline refining margins fell by over a dollar to $13.66 a barrel in thin trade, shrugging off a weekly decline in northwest European stock levels and French strike action.
* Gasoline stocks held in independent storage in the Amsterdam-Rotterdam-Antwerp (ARA) refining and storage area fell by 2% to 1.39 million tonnes in the week to Thursday, data from Dutch consultancy Insights Global showed.
* European gasoline stocks reached 108 million barrels in February, unchanged from January but down by 4.4% on the year, Euroilstock data showed on Thursday.
* Workers striking over proposed changes to France's pension system continued to block fuel deliveries and reduce electricity production at several sites on Thursday.
* About 7% of French refuelling stations lacked at least one product as of Wednesday, but "there is no supply problem for service stations and the situation is improving", said Olivier Gantois, president of the French Union for Petroleum, Energy and Mobility Industries UFIP.
* "Overall the market doesn't seem to be reacting to the strikes in the same way it did during October 2022", said Pamela Munger, senior market analyst at energy analytics firm Vortexa.


* Last year, extended strike action closed around 70% of France's refining capacity.
* Meanwhile, disruptions to ship traffic on the Rhine have ended, a spokesperson of the Gambsheim lock in France's Alsace region said on Thursday, after protesting EDF workers on Wednesday had blocked some locks along one of Europe's busiest waterways.
* Across the Atlantic, U.S. crude oil stockpiles fell last week, breaking a 10-week streak of builds, according to the Energy Information Administration. Trades Bids Offers Prev. Sellers Buyers (vol.) Trades
Ebob
Barges
MOC
Platts
E5
(fob
ARA)
<EUROBOB
-ARA>
Ebob
Barges
E10
Platts(f
ob ARA)
Ebob
Barges $814,
Argus $809.24 $816
E5(fob (4KT) (4KT)
AR)



Ebob
Barges
E10
Argus
(fob AR)
April
swap fob
ARA $836 $836.75




Premium Shell Unleaded
(fob $833 (5 $829.00, Trafigu
ARA) barges) $831 (5 ra
<PU-10PP barges)
-ARA>



Cargoes
(fob
MED)
Cargoes
(cif
NWE)
Naphtha
(cif
NWE)
<NAF-C-N
WE>


Ebob crack (per barrel) $13.67 Prev. $15.02 Brent futures Rbob Rbob crack (Reporting by Rowena Edwards; Editing by Shailesh Kuber)

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