Oil product supply in Germany remains high even though a delayed end to the autumn refinery maintenance season has cut regional production.
Germany's refining sector had seemed poised to finish its maintenance season at the end of October as scheduled, but the Miro and Bayernoil consortiums took catalytic hydro-desulphurisation units offline at their respective 310,000 b/d Karlsruhe refinery and the Neustadt site of the 215,000 b/d Vohburg-Neustadt refinery, both in southern Germany, at the start of November for unplanned maintenance works.
Production of distillates is restricted at both refineries, leading to a drop in local supply.
It is unknown when supply in Karlsruhe will return to normal levels. Local traders said supply at Neustadt will be restricted until 19 November.
TotalEnergies' 240,000 b/d Leuna refinery in southeastern Germany faced some technical difficulties after maintenance works at the end of October. This delayed a return to normal production levels, and suppliers restricted sales of heating oil and road fuels in the past week as inventories were running low. The restrictions were lifted on 8 November.
The rest of Germany's 11 refineries are producing normally, and diesel imports into northern ports remain high.
Demand for heating oil and diesel is relatively low. Traded diesel volumes reported to Argus were almost half in the week to 7 November compared with the last week of October, and heating oil volumes fell by about 50pc at the same time.
Supply remains high enough to meet demand despite the locally reduced production.
