Spot product prices were largely up in the week to April 5,due to demand within the region and from abroad.ULSD and heating oil margins climbed with rising demand along the Rhine River,as inland markets sought more barrels following a recent lull in buying due to low water levels along the key supply route.Diesel margins snapped a four-week losing streak.Low water levels on the Rhine had been hindering barge movements,driving up freight rates;however,freight rates still had a lot of room to come down further,and when they do,demand likely will rise again,traders noted.Also,off-road diesel demand from the agriculture sector for seasonal work was anticipated to jump in the coming weeks.On the supply side,a larger-than-expected drop in US middle distillate stocks lent support to European prices,as tightening inventories in the US could result in fewer arbitrage shipments to Europe from the US Gulf Coast.On the other hand,an increase in gasoil stocks in Europe's ARA storage hub injected some bearish sentiment.Jet fuel sentiment strengthened at mid-week on news of an outage at a kerosene-production unit at a refinery in Kuwait,which is a major exporter of jet fuel to Europe.Players noted that differentials could see a short-term boost,due to a fire at Kuwait National Petroleum's 257K-b/d Mina Abdullah refinery that knocked offline a kerosene-production unit.The outage could impact kerosene exports from die country,market sources noted,despite a spokesperson for the company stating that there were “no worries about local supplies or exports.”
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