About 400,000 mt of oil products, mostly diesel, have loaded in the US Gulf Coast for discharge in Europe in March, according to an estimate based on data from cFlow, Platts trade flow software.
Although more cargoes potentially still have time to load and make it to Europe in March, making month-on-month comparisons tricky, discharges in the first two weeks of March represented a near 50% drop year on year, or 680,000 mt versus 360,000 mt, according to Platts estimates.
Only two cargoes, with an estimated total volume of 80,000 mt, have been added to the estimate compiled February 29, a sign of a closed arbitrage between the two continents.
By contrast, in March 2015, 1,000,000 mt of product from the US Gulf Coast flowed into Europe.
A number of US refiners have been on scheduled and unscheduled maintenance in recent weeks, a trend boosted by weak refining margins.
Meanwhile, ample inventories and steady Russian flows have kept the Northwest European market balanced. "To be honest, all arbs into NWE are closed", a market source said.
Partly due to weakening product flows from the US, the Northwest European diesel market has recently found itself on a firmer footing, with sources saying there was less material in storage and stronger consumer demand from Europe.
