Europe Distillates/Fuel Oil-German demand, refinery work support

LONDON, Nov 5 (Reuters) - Spot differentials on physical gas
oil and diesel firmed across the European middle distillate
market on Thursday, supported by demand from Germany and
extended refinery maintenance shutdowns.

Refinery maintenance also kept fuel oil's price at a
13-month high despite a fall in crude oil prices.

"It is related to some heating demand in Germany," a trader
said. "And maintenance that is coming off is being substituted
with run cuts. All that works out bullish for fuel oil cracks."

But upside may be limited by high inventories on land and at
sea, traders said.

GAS OIL

* Barges of gas oil with 0.1 percent sulphur traded at
discounts of $5 a tonne fob ARA to November ICE gas oil futures,
firmer than Wednesday's deals at $8 discounts.

* The differentials improved from a $14 discount on Monday,
the lowest since June but the levels were still below $3/$7
premiums in November last year.

* ConocoPhillips bid a cargo at December minus $3. The
company's Wilhelmshaven refinery in Germany has been shut for 10
weeks since October. [REF/OUT]

* In the Mediterranean, Gunvor bid gas oil 0.1 percent
sulphur at parity to December ICE gas oil futures. Gas oil with
0.2 percent was bid at December minus $7 a tonne cif.

* On the swaps market, gas oil east/west spreads widened,
with European prices $3/$4 above Asian levels for November. The
spread was at near parity on Wednesday.

PETROPLUS

* Petroplus said it would keep Coryton and Reichstett
refineries closed for extended work until December.
[ID:nL5419216]

DIESEL

* Differentials on 10ppm diesel barges rose, with dealings
done at premiums of $12 and $14 a tonne fob ARA, from $8/$9
premiums on Wednesday.

* ConocoPhillips bought the German spec at December plus $7
a tonne cif NWE, up $1 from its bid on Wednesday.

* The French winter spec was bid at December plus $9 a tonne
cif NWE and November plus $17 a tonne cif MED.

JET FUEL

* BP sold three cargoes to Vitol and Morgan Stanley at
December plus $43 and November plus $48 a tonne cif NWE.

* A barge traded at December plus $42 a tonne fob.

* Swaps rose about $2 the curve. November swaps were at
$47/$47.75 a tonne cif NWE.

ICE GAS OIL

* Benchmark November ICE gas oil futures fell $7.25, or 1.1
percent, to $633.75 a tonne, with the contago to December at
$8.00 by 1817 GMT. LGOc1 NEWOILOIL

* Gas oil's crack to ICE Brent futures was at $6/$11 a
barrel, compared with $8.32 at the close. LGO-LCO1=R

FUEL OIL <EURO/DIFF/FO>

* High sulphur fuel oil (HSFO) barges with 3.5 percent
sulphur held unchanged from Wednesday at $456 and $458 a tonne
fob ARA, trading at the highest price levels in 13 months.

* HSFO's crack to dated Brent BFO- narrowed by about 30
cents to minus $5.65 a barrel. It has recovered from minus $8.90
a barrel in mid-October due to large imports into the ARA area.

FLOATING STORAGE/ARA STOCKS [ARA/]

* Ship broker SSY on Thursday estimated that by the end of
October 112 ships were being used globally to store clean
products, equivalent to around 78.8 million barrels of products.

* That compared with 99 ships at the end of September or
68.2 million barrels, SSY figures showed.

* The estimate is in line with other traders' and ship
brokers. They said the volume was likely to increase.
[ID:nLT402738] [ID:nSP533532]

* Gas oil and fuel oil inventories at the ARA independent
tanks remained much higher than a year earlier due to slack
demand and continuing imports, Dutch analyst Pieter Kulsen said.
[ARA/]
(Reporting by Ikuko Kurahone and by Jonathan Saul)