Suppliers in southern Germany are lowering gasoline prices compared with the nationwide average on ample supply and slow demand.
Gasoline availability in Southern Germany has remained sufficient enough to cover local demand even though refinery outages hampered supply, because demand has remained slow, around Karlsruhe especially. This has forced some suppliers to keep prices well below the national average.
Gasoline prices in the region have fallen significantly compared with the rest of the of Germany with discounts of over €2,20/100l in the past week.
Production at the Bayernoil consortium's 215,000 b/d Vohburg-Neustadt refinery in Bavaria and the Miro joint venture's 310,000 b/d Karlsruhe refinery is still restricted. Both facilities experienced technical problems within days of each other at the end of January.
While a third of Miro's production capacity is expected to remain offline until the beginning of March, the operators of the Bayernoil refinery began the process of bringing the affected units back online on Sunday.
Meanwhile, suppliers in Cologne are selling gasoline with a premium of up to €1,60/100l to the national average. This sudden price jump points toward reduced availability at Shell's 334,000 b/d Rhineland refinery complex. Although traders in the region have not reported any gasoline shortages, the upcoming end of crude refining at the 147,000 b/d Wesseling plant of the Rhineland refinery in March could already be having an effect on prices.
