LONDON, Aug 5 (Reuters) - Northwest European gasoline refining margins fell sharply on Monday despite a sell-off in crude prices, losing $2.73 to $14.45 a barrel.
- No Eurobob E10 barges traded in the Argus window on Monday, after a total of 18,500 metric tons of barges had changed hands on Friday.
- Around 3,000 tons of Eurobob E5 traded in the Argus window, with Trafigura selling to BP.
- Motiva Enterprises began restarting the gasoline-producing fluidic catalytic cracker (FCC) on Sunday morning at its 626,000-barrel-per-day (bpd) Port Arthur, Texas, refinery, people familiar with plant operations said.
- Japan's gasoline imports are expected to stay elevated through August after rising 20% in June as outages at its refineries are reducing output during peak summer demand season, traders and analysts said.
- Independently held gasoline stocks in storage in the Amsterdam-Rotterdam-Antwerp (ARA) refining and storage hub stood at about 1.07 million metric tons, rising 3.6% on the week, data from Dutch consultancy Insights Global showed.
- "Gasoline exports from Northwest Europe and West Mediterranean reached a 6-month high of 3.48 million tons in July after averaging between 2.5 million tons and 2.8 million tons in the previous five months, as summer driving season grew requirements from the US," LSEG analyst Abdul Hadhi said.
Trade Bid Offer Prev. Seller Buyer EbobBarges MOC Platts E5 (fob ARA)
Ebob Barges E10 Platts(fo b ARA) Ebob $758 $797.50 Trafigu BP Barges (3kt) -$805.5 ra Argus 0E5(fob AR) Ebob $771-$8 Barges 04.50 E10 Argus (fob AR) Sept swap $755.50 $762.25 (fob ARA)
Premium $770-771 $779, Shell, Trafig Unleaded (7 $782 BP ura (fob ARA) barges)
Cargoes FOB Med (fob MED) cargo BL+5 +$9.00 bss Agioi Theodor oi Cargoes $805(cif NW E) Naphtha (cif NW E)
Ebob crack (per barrel) $14.45 Prev. $17.18 Brent futures LCOc1 Rbob RBc1 Rbob crack RBc1-CLc1
