Eurobob gasoline barge traded volumes fell in the first half of the year compared with the same period in 2022 as a drop in oxy volumes outweighed a rise in non-oxy trade.
Combined Eurobob oxy and non-oxy volumes totalled 1.57mn t in the January-June period — down by 9.6pc from the same period in 2022 — with oxy making up 52pc of the total and non-oxy 48pc. That marks a large shift from the first half of 2022, when the ratio of trade was 71pc oxy and 29pc non-oxy.
Gasoline barge trade was lower in the first half of the year, despite firm inland German demand. While export demand was counter seasonably high in the first quarter — prompted initially by US refinery outages in December and the subsequent need to bolster inventories — second quarter export demand, especially to west Africa, was largely lacklustre, which could have weighed on barge activity. Around 25mn t of gasoline was exported from Europe in the first six months of the year, compared with 28mn t last year, according to Vortexa data.
Eurobob non-oxy volumes rose to 755,000t, up by 48pc from the same period in 2022. Increasing non-oxy trade comes as the European market increasingly mandates the use of E10 gasoline — a blend that contains up to 10pc bioethanol and for which non-oxy is a blendstock. The second quarter in 2023 was the first on record where non-oxy trade was greater than that of the oxy market, with 557,500t of non-oxy trading compared with 510,900t of oxy.
The number of firms buying non-oxy barges held steady at 12, with Trafigura and Litasco emerging as buyers in 2023, while Van Raak and Hartree retreated from the market. The largest non-oxy buyer was Varo, lifting 309,000t. Varo was also the main buyer in the first half of 2022 with 346,500t bought. ExxonMobil remained the second largest buyer, but increased its volumes almost five-fold at 256,800t. BP was the third largest buyer, with 51,500t.
The number of non-oxy sellers held steady at 10, with Petroineos, Sahara and Trafigura replacing ExxonMobil, Hartree and Litasco. The main seller of non-oxy was Shell, offloading 291,200t, followed by TotalEnergies which sold 225,100t and Gunvor at 112,700t. The two majors had been the main two sellers last year, with Hartree the third largest.
Eurobob oxy volumes were at 818,600t in the first six months of the year, down by a third compared with the same period in 2022, with fewer buyers active on the grade.
The number of firms buying oxy fell to 12 from 16, with Aramco Trading Company, Hartree, Litasco, Phillips 66 and Sahara absent in the first half of the year, while Petroineos was the only new player. The largest oxy buyer was Gunvor, purchasing 251,000t. The trading firm had also been the largest buyer in the same period last year when it bought 454,000t. Mabanaft was the second largest buyer, lifting 139,000t, and Shell was the third largest buyer with 83,800t.
The number of oxy sellers fell to 8 from 11, with Hartree, Litasco and Sahara retreating. The largest seller of oxy was Trafigura, parting with 296,000t — having sold just 12,000t in the same period last year — followed by TotalEnergies at 249,900t. The French major had been the largest seller in January-June last year at 564,000t. Gunvor was the third largest seller at 100,800t.
German buying activity was up sharply in the January-June period. BMV Mineraloel and Mabanaft made up 13pc of the combined traded volume, up from 4pc last year. The two German firms were particularly active in the oxy market, where the share of the total oxy trade reached 19pc, even as oxy trade fell by 33pc. Refinery maintenance from the end of the first quarter and through much of the second, combined with sluggish restarts in June, prompted an increase in German demand in the first half of the year.
Trading houses became increasingly active in the non-oxy market in the first half of 2023. Glencore, Gunvor and Trafigura accounted for around 8.3pc of purchases, compared with 6.2pc last year. Conversely, those three firms as well as commodity trader Vitol, saw their share of the oxy market fall to 42.5pc from 47pc in January-June last year.
