* Diesel refining margins have fallen sharply since hitting a peak of over $80 a barrel in October as imports from Asia, the Middle East and the United States rose to record highs in recent months, replacing Russian volumes that the European Union banned on Feb. 5.
* The restart of several French refineries this week following outages as a result of strike action have weighed on diesel prices, traders said.
* Buying activity in inland German markets has, however, picked up in recent days, as end-users take advantage of lower diesel price spreads, traders said.
* U.S. distillate stockpiles, which include diesel and heating oil, fell last week by 600,000 barrels to 112.4 million barrels, versus expectations for a 800,000 barrel drop, EIA data showed.
* Russia has increased its
diesel exports to Brazil and other parts of Latin America, traders said and Refinitiv Eikon data showed.
* Kuwait's al Zour refinery has been partially shut down due to technical
issues,
spokesperson for Kuwait Integrated Petroleum Industries Company (KIPIC),
Abdallah al Ajamy, said on Wednesday. The company added in a tweet that efforts
were under way to gradually restore operations there within two weeks.
Trades Bids Offers Previous Seller Buyer
Session
0.1 GO
Barge
diffs fob
ARA per
tonne 0.1 GO TQC +$21
Cargo
diffs cif
NWE per
tonne
<GO-CND-NWE
>
0.1 GO April
Cargo -$4
diffs cif
Med per
tonne
<GO-CND-MED
>
50ppm barge April
diffs fob -$0.50
ARA per
tonne
<GO50PPM-ED
-ARA>
Diesel Trades Bids Offers Previous Seller Buyer
Session
Diesel May April Glencor Vitol
barge +$5.50- flat to e
diffs fob $6 April
ARA +$2, May
Per tonne +$6(16.3
<ULSD10-BD- KT)
ARA>
Diesel April April
cargo +$20 +$21
diffs cif
NWE
Per tonne
<ULSD10-ANY
D-NWE>
Diesel May Med +$9
cargo +$14
diffs cif
Med
per tonne
<DL-CIFD-ME
D>
Jet fuel Trades Bids Offers Previous Seller Buyer
Session
Jet fuel
barge
diffs fob
FARAG
per tonne
<JET-BD-ARA
>
Jet fuel May
cargo +$47
cif NWE per (Rotte
tonne rdam)
<JET-CD-NWE
>
Fuel Oil Trades Bids Offers Previous Sell Buy
Session
0.5% barge $553
fob ARA per
tonne
3.5% barge $457-$459 $452-$45 Total Aramc
fob ARA per 3 o
tonne ICE Low Sulphur Gasoil Previous
Diesel ARA Barge $18.3 $18.1
Crack(per barrel)
Diesel spread (Reporting by Ron Bousso; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli)