Med oil products mostly lower as Elf strike ends .
LONDON 1996-12-06
Mediterranean oil products were steady to mostly lower on Friday after Elf refinery workers voted to end their nine-day strike .
Gas oil erased Thursday 's gains , plunging $ 5.50 a tonne in line with the screen .
Volume was very thin and market remained long , with premiums down $ 1 at about high cif quotes +$0.50 basis Genoa . "
The sharp moves on the screen make everyone nervous , " a trader said .
Trades were discussed in 0.2 , 0.5 and one percent heating oil into Syria and Lebanon and there were fresh inquiries from France and Spain for low sulphur diesel .
Interest remains focussed on a tender by India for a second purchase of high speed diesel for January delivery .
Fuel oil lost ground sharply with weaker crude , but also suffered from some pricing pressure .
High sulphur cracked fuel lost about $ 3 to $ 109-111 fob Med with several cargoes threatening to overhang the market .
The chance of material heading north , talked earlier this week , may be in jeopardy now since American fuel oil is expected to head transatlantic following outages at two coking units in the U.S .
Up to 165,000 tonnes of fuel will have to find a new home and with the arbitrage from the U.S. to Europe open Rotterdam is a prime candidate .
Low sulphur prices were lower with cif Med pegged in the mid to low $ 140s .
Gasoline prices fell after striking Elf refinery workers voted to go back to work , traders said .
But an open arbitrage to the U.S. and tight Italian supplies after Elf scooped up Med material over the last week , continued to underpin prices into next week .