Overview
Northwest European gasoline refinery margins rose by around $0.90 on Friday, reaching $26.91 per barrel, driven by a mix of constrained supply and strong buying in the physical market. Market participants cited tighter supplies and active trading as the immediate backdrop to the margin improvement.
Physical market activity
Trading in the Argus window showed notable barge flows. Approximately 23,000 metric tons of E5 gasoline barges were transacted, with BP, Shell, Equinor and Trafigura recorded as sellers and TotalEnergies as the buyer. In addition, some 9,400 metric tons of E10 gasoline barges changed hands, with Shell, Total and Trafigura selling to MB Energy, Van Raak and Exxon.
Inventory developments
Independent gasoline stocks in the Amsterdam-Rotterdam-Antwerp (ARA) refining and storage hub declined by roughly 6.3% over the week, according to data released on Thursday by Dutch consultancy Insights Global. The consultancy's data also showed naphtha inventories fell by 4.3% to 374,000 tons. Those stock movements were cited in market commentary as part of the supply-tightness narrative supporting margins.
Operational disruption in Libya
Adding to the supply picture, Libya's Zawiya oil refinery was shut down and an emergency declared on Friday after clashes near the facility, the source said. The refinery, which has a processing capacity of 120,000 barrels per day, was taken offline, according to two engineers and the refinery's operator. Market participants referenced the outage as an additional supply-side factor influencing regional gasoline balances.
Demand-side signal from the United States
On the demand front, a US survey released on Friday showed consumer sentiment fell to a record low in early May. The survey noted that elevated gasoline prices were weighing on household finances and purchasing power. Market observers linked weaker sentiment in the United States to the broader narrative of consumer pressure from higher pump prices.
Conclusion
Collectively, the trade flows, inventory draws at the ARA hub and the Zawiya outage were cited as supportive of the roughly $0.90 rise in Northwest European gasoline refinery margins to $26.91 per barrel on Friday, while US consumer sentiment data underlined the sensitivity of household budgets to higher gasoline costs.