Northwest European gasoline refining margins fell to $12 a barrel on Thursday, 80 cents lower than the previous session according to Reuters calculations, amid a rise in gasoline inventories in the region. Gasoline stocks in independent storage at the Amsterdam-Rotterdam-Antwerp (ARA) refining and storage hub rose around 3% in the week to Thursday to reach their highest on record for this time of year, data from Dutch consultancy Insights Global showed.

US crude stocks rose last week as refineries cut output, while gasoline stocks decreased and distillate inventories fell, the Energy Information Administration said on Wednesday. US gasoline demand jumped by 281,000 barrels per day (bpd) to a record 9.93 million bpd last week, according to data from the US Energy Information Administration going back to 1991.

So far in August, some 472,700 tonnes of gasoline and blending components have been delivered from Europe and the Mediterranean to North America, Refinitiv Eikon data showed. July arrivals closed at 1.91 million tonnes, a 62% increase on June.

At least four cargoes of gasoline were booked on Thursday from Europe to West Africa, according to shipping data. One cargo was booked from France with the option to go the United States. Activity slowed down in parts of northwest Europe because of a public holiday, Insights Global said in a note.

Copyright Reuters, 2019