RTRS: Europe Gasoline/Naphtha-Prices rebound with crude
LONDON, June 29 (Reuters) - Gasoline barge prices rose in
northwest Europe on Friday after Brent crude oil futures
rebounded on hopes for a resolution to the eurozone debt crisis,
but gasoline refining margins weakened slightly as product
prices failed to match crude's pace.
Trading activity is still focused on export markets as core
European domestic demand remains weak and refiners are
prioritising the production of grades for overseas.
A gasoline broker said that U.S. RBOB was being bought up.
"That's the main action. There is no Eurobob or M2 gasoline
around," he said.
On the naphtha side, the East-West differential has narrowed
again, reducing the possibility of sending cargoes to Asia, but
things may improve when Asia's biggest naphtha cracker Formosa
comes back online next week.
Traders said that for the time being naphtha remained in the
doldrums as there was so much on offer and no buying.
Petrochemical buyers are still struggling with the poor
economic environment as the demand for their products has
dropped. One naphtha trader said the prices of certain polymers
used to manufacture things like plastic bottles had dropped by
170-180 euros.
"It gives you an idea how the stock levels are - high," the
trader said. "You can't get rid of the end product."
Propane is still trading at a discount to naphtha of some
$115 a tonne despite some reports that there is less of it
around.
GASOLINE
* No barges of benchmark Eurobob gasoline traded in the
window.
* Some 3,000 tonnes traded ahead of the window at $916-$940
a tonne fob ARA, rising with crude as the day wore on. This was
up from Thursday's $891-$896 a tonne fob ARA price range.
* Hess and Gunvor were sellers, whilst Cargill, Trafigura
and Noble were on the buy side.
* Four barges of premium unleaded traded at $936-$940 a
tonne fob ARA, up from $917 a tonne fob ARA in the previous
session.
* By 1537 GMT, Eurobob's crack to dated Brent BFO- was at
around $17.79 a barrel, down from around $18.42 a barrel on
Thursday.
* ICE Brent crude futures were up $3.90 at $95.26 a
barrel by 1538 GMT after European leaders agreed a strategy to
tackle borrowing costs in Italy and Spain.
* U.S. RBOB gasoline futures were up 2.52 percent at
$2.6800 a gallon around the same time.
* RBOB's crack to U.S. crude futures RB-CL1=R was trading
at $25.56 a barrel, up a little from Thursday's $25.32 a barrel.
NAPHTHA NAF-C-NWE
* No naphtha cargoes traded in the window, with only one bid
and six offers.
* BASF bid $753 a tonne cif NWE for July 10-14 whilst offers
came from Koch, Gunvor, Shell, Morgan Stanley, BASF and Glencore
in the $761-$765 a tonne cif NWE range.
* These offers were up from Thursday's at $749-$750 a tonne
cif NWE.
(Reporting by Claire Milhench; Editing by Alison Birrane)