European spot prices climb on export demand.

摘要

Spot product prices increased in the week to July 14, as refinery problems in the Mediterranean bolstered the diesel market, and tumbling gasoline inventories in the US helped drive up motor fuel sentiment. ULSD and heating oil margins were up at the start of the period, supported by strength from the previous week when demand from Asia pulled barrels out of Europe. However, the exports to the East died off and sentiment came under pressure from rising stocks in the US and Europe. On Wednesday, the US reported weekly middle distillate inventories soared 3.2MM bbl to 153.6MM bbl, exceeding analysts' forecasts of a 1.1MM-bbl build. Middle distillates levels rose to their highest since mid-March. Higher stocks in the US often mean a wider window for transadantic shipments to head to Europe. And on Thursday, data showed that gasoil inventories held in Europe's ARA storage posted a build. Meanwhile, diesel premiums in the Mediterranean region were buoyed by tightening supplies, which players blamed on refinery outages. Specifically, Greek refiner Hellenic Petroleum declared force majeure on July diesel cargoes from its 100K-b/d Elefsina facility due to a "severe" technical issue which resulted in the shutdown of several units. The tightness in the Med pulled barrels from Northwest Europe, and traders noted that the incident could impact diesel supplies until Sept. Jet fuel prices were not reported on the week.