LONDON, March 23 (Reuters) - Gas oil barge prices rose to
the highest level since early February as refinery maintenance
constrained output.
"Regular maintenance typically peaks in the second quarter
when demand is lowest, but poor refinery margins at the
beginning of the year might have prompted refiners to bring
forward some work," said analysts at JBC Energy.
They estimate that 835,000 barrels a day of capacity in
Europe is offline in March for maintenance.
For a Reuters table of refinery maintenance see: [REF/E]
GASOLINE AND NAPHTHA * Barges of benchmark Eurobob gasoline were little changed,
with deals done at $754-$759 a tonne fob ARA. Late on Tuesday,
they traded around $753-$758
* Eurobob prices held steady despite the modest drop in
crude oil prices and its crack to dated Brent BFO- was higher
at $11.40 a barrel than $10.60 on Monday.
* ICE Brent crude futures were trading 19 cents lower at
$80.35 a barrel by 1129 GMT while U.S. crude dipped by 26 cents
at $81.34. NEWOILOIL
* Still, pressure may from the outlook for the arbitrage
export window to the United States, which is likely to become
narrower in April than March, traders said.
* New York RBOB gasoline RBc1 was trading 0.36 percent
lower at $2.2480 a gallon, with its crack at $12.96 a barrel.
MIDDLE DISTILLATES
* Barges of gas oil with 0.1 percent sulphur were offered at
a premium of $1.50 to April ICE gas oil futures, up from a range
of $0-$1 the previous day.
* This was the highest discussed level since 10 Feb.
* Diesel barges were discussed at premiums of $16 a tonne
fob ARA.
* ICE gas oil futures for April LGOc1 rose $4.50 to
$666.75 a tonne fob ARA at 1308 GMT.
* The contract was firm relative to Brent futures which were
unchanged at the same time.
* Still, gas oil crack spreads have fallen from a one-year
high of $11.62 a barrel on 16 March and were $8.81 on Tuesday.
FUEL OIL * High sulphur fuel oil (HSFO) barges with 3.5 percent
sulphur were not discussed in early trade.
* Based on the previous close of $429-$441 a tonne fob ARA,
the spot crack spread rose to minus $9.32 a barrel from minus
$9.44 a barrel on Monday.
(Reporting by Ikuko Kurahone and Emma Farge)
