Margins have been supported by firm export demand to West Africa and the Middle East. Petronor said on Thursday that it will shut one of two crude distillation units and a visbreaker at its 220,000 barrel per day Bilboa oil refinery in northern Spain because of bad weather. China's Unipec, the trading arm of Asia's largest oil refiner Sinopec, has hired two former traders from commodity trader Noble Group to join its middle distillates desk in London, said two sources with knowledge of the matter.
Indonesia's government plans to expand biodiesel subsidies to cover consumption of palm oil-blended fuels by the mining sector this year as part of ambitious plans to develop the energy source, an energy ministry official said on Thursday. Two barges of eurobob gasoline traded during the afternoon session at $618 and $619 a tonne fob ARA, up slightly from $616-$617 on Wednesday. Gunvor sold to BP and Trafigura.
Elsewhere, 6,000 tonnes traded at $620-$623 a tonne fob Amsterdam-Rotterdam, up from $614 the previous day. Litasco sold to Total and Gunvor and Van Raak sold to Finco. Gunvor sold to Total a barge of premium unleaded gasoline at $622 a tonne fob ARA, down from $625 in the previous session. Two cargoes were offered at down to $621 a tonne fob Mediterranean but no deal concluded. The February swap stood at $622.50 a tonne at the close. The benchmark EBOB gasoline refining margin climbed to $5.40 a barrel from $4.92 on Tuesday.