Europe Gasoline/Naphtha-Cracks climb on strong demand for exports
LONDON, Oct (HKSE: 3366-OL.HK - news) 4 (Reuters) - Gasoline refining margins in northwest Europe rose on Tuesday as Nigeria and other regions continued to seek its export cargoes.
* Refinery turnarounds in the Middle East, Canada and Europe are limiting supplies of all products, traders said. A move to make more middle distillates in recent months at the expense of gasoline had also helped balance supplies.
* Egyptian General Petroleum Corp (EGPC) is seeking two cargoes of 33,000 to 35,000 tonnes each of 95-octane gasoline for delivery into Suez (LSE: 0NRV.L - news) over Oct. 21 to 23 and Oct. 25 to 27, traders say. It is also looking for 30,000 to 33,000 tonnes into Alexandria.
* Nigeria is importing more gasoline now as a result of a resumption in exports of crude oil streams that had been closed, enabling the country to swap more oil for gasoline.
* The demand for gasoline is also boosting naphtha, which is used as a blendstock.
* Around 400,000-500,000 tonnes of reformate are expected to ship from Europe to China in October, though stocks are now too high to enable more bookings, traders said.
GASOLINE
* No barges of benchmark Eurobob gasoline traded during the afternoon window. Bids came in at $509 a tonne fob ARA, compared with trades on Monday at $496 a tonne.
* Elsewhere during the day, Gunvor, Shell (LSE: RDSB.L - news) and Statoil (LSE: 0M2Z.L - news) sold to Total (LSE: 524773.L - news) and Varo Energy at $512-$515 a tonne fob ARA.
* Rolympus sold barges of premium unleaded gasoline to Shell and Total at $522-$525 a tonne fob ARA, up from $509-$513 a tonne on Monday.
* The November swap stood at $493 a tonne at the close, up from $480 a tonne.
* Gasoline barge refining margins rose to $11.90 a barrel, up from $10.89 a barrel on Monday.
* Brent crude oil futures for December delivery were up 33 cents a barrel at $51.22 by 1628 GMT.
* U.S. November RBOB gasoline futures were up 2.25 percent at $1.5035 a gallon.
* The U.S. gasoline crack (RB-CL1=R) was trading at $11.90 a barrel, down from $12.95 a barrel.
NAPHTHA (NAF-C-NWE)
* Trafigura sold a cargo to Shell and Gunvor sold to Glencore (Frankfurt: 8GC.F - news) , each at $432 a tonne cif NWE, up from $422 a tonne.
(Reporting By Libby George)