Cracks slip as Atlantic basin stocks rise

Benchmark northwest European gasoline barge refining margins fell to $4.2 a barrel on Thursday, as inventories of the motor fuel rose on both sides of the Atlantic.

• Gasoil stocks held in independent storage in the Amsterdam-Rotterdam-Antwerp (ARA) refining and storage area rose to their highest in three months in the week to Thursday, data from Dutch consultancy Insights Global showed.

• Gasoline stocks rose 9% to 1.36 million tonnes on higher imports into the hub particularly from other locations in northwest Europe, Insights Global's Lars van Wageningen said.

• U.S. gasoline stocks (USOILG=ECI) rose 2.8 million barrels in the week to 213.8 million barrels, the Energy Information Administration said on Wednesday.

• The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday proposed increases in the amount of ethanol and other biofuels oil refiners must blend into their fuel over the next three years.

• European Union governments tentatively agreed on Thursday on a $60 a barrel price cap on Russian seaborne oil - an idea of the Group of Seven (G7) nations - with an adjustment mechanism to keep the cap at 5% below the market price, an EU diplomat said.

• Italy's government will place a Lukoil-owned LKOH refinery in Sicily in the hands of trustees, the region's leader said on Thursday, to prevent it being shut down because of a looming embargo on Russian seaborne oil.