European petrol prices edge up as margins narrow

biz.yahoo.com Reuters Friday January 31, 12:23 pm ET

LONDON, Jan 31 (Reuters) - European petrol prices edged up this week as the wholesale gasoline market registered 20-month highs, industry experts said on Friday. London-based consultancy Oil Price Assessments Limited (OPAL) said German retailers had increased its prices by two euro cents ($0.021) over the week, while on Friday prices in Spain were raised by 1.6 euro cents and in the Netherlands by one euro cent.

ADVERTISEMENTFrance and the UK had seen tiny increases though further rises were likely, the London-based consultancy said.

"In the UK, (retailer) margins are getting very tight, at under four pence (six cents) a litre," said Peter Regnier of OPAL.

Gasoline on the benchmark Rotterdam barge market traded at $327 a tonne for 10 parts per million (ppm) refinery material on Thursday and Friday, the highest levels since May 2001, according to Reuters calculations.

Germany, Europe's largest consumer of motor fuels, switched to the cleaner 10ppm petrol on January 1. The rest of northwest Europe still uses 50ppm petrol, which last traded at a very high $319 a tonne.

Wholesale buying from major BP (London:BP.L - News) prompted by a 10-day partial shutdown of its Nerefco refinery in Rotterdam helped drive the already tightly supplied market to the high.

Wholesale prices have also been boosted by underlying fears of a war in Iraq and strong demand from the U.S. to make up for lost supplies from oil producer Venezuela, where a general strike has dragged on for more than eight weeks.