Gulf Coast spot gasoline pricing discounts narrowed again on Thursday amid moderate, pre-holiday weekend buying and somewhat on news of a gasoline-making unit shutdown at BP's Texas City refinery.

BP said fluid catalytic cracking unit No. 3 was going off line for repairs on Thursday, just three days after it began restarting following more than five months of maintenance. There is no restart estimate for the unit, a person familiar with operations at the refinery said on Thursday.

"The (BP Texas City FCCU No. 3) shutdown shouldn't have an impact on (gasoline differentials) since it's been out of service most of the year. It's not like it was back in production. Those barrels have been out of the market for a long time now," a Gulf Coast-based trader said.

M2-grade regular conventional gasoline for prompt 31st-cycle Colonial Pipeline shipment last traded at a 12.75 cent-a-gallon discount to July Nymex RBOB futures, up from a minus 13.75c start and from 14c and 14.25c under in late day trading on Wednesday.

M2-grade's ratable-June timing, which means barrels will be delivered in each of the three 10-day periods of the month, traded at 16.25c and 16.5c under July Nymex, and ratable-July delivery traded at a 15.5c discount to August Nymex.

V2-grade premium conventional gasoline traded at premiums of 16.5c and 18c to July Nymex, and at a high of 30.5c over in a deal that traders said wasn't a good representation of true market value.

A2-grade conventional blendstock for oxygenate blending, or CBOB, for prompt 31st-cycle shipment last traded at a 15.5c discount to July Nymex, maintaining a discount-regrade to M2-grade of 3c throughout the day.

In distillate trading, ultralow-sulfur diesel fuel, or ULSD, for shipment on the newly prompt 31st-cycle traded at 1.85c and 2c over July Nymex heating oil futures, which compares to deals done between 2.1c and 2.35c over June Nymex at the end of 30th-cycle trade on Wednesday.

Heating oil for prompt 31st-cycle delivery traded 0.75c to 0.85c up on the day, at discount of 1.15c and 1.25c to July Nymex.

And 31st-cycle jet fuel traded within Wednesday's ranges, at premiums of 4c, 4.25c and 4.5c to July Nymex.

Supply seems to still outpace demand in the New York spot market as F2-grade RBOB offers fell to a 3c premium to June Nymex, or down 1.25c on the day. The end-month timing ended 1.5c down on the day, at 1.5c over June Nymex.

F2-grade for ratable-June delivery was last assessed at a 4c premium to July Nymex, down from differentials left between 4.5c and 4.75c over the benchmark the day before.

328-grade CBOB for 154e-batch Buckeye Pipeline loading held at a discount of 11c to June Nymex, and the 161e-batch traded at minus 11.75c and 11c under, with offers left at the minus 11c level. The end-month timing was last offered at a 9c discount, which is down from minus 7.5c on Wednesday.

In distillate trading, heating oil for prompt delivery was reported done at a discount of 0.5c to June Nymex, but not confirmed. Otherwise, prompt offers held at Wednesday's parity to the June screen.

ULSD for prompt delivery was seen at 6c and 6.25c over June Nymex, also within recent ranges, and jet fuel for early June delivery held between 8.5c and 10c over July Nymex.

And in the Midwest, Group Three's N-grade regular conventional gasoline discounts narrowed by 2c on the day, to between 9.5c and 10c to June Nymex, after barrels traded at minus 9.75c in early trading on Wednesday. N-grade delivered by June 5 traded at a 4.5c discount to July Nymex.

ULSD, or X-grade in Group Three, moved 0.25c up on the day, to between 2.25 and 2.75c over June Nymex, while Q-grade jet fuel premiums narrowed to between 9c and 10c to the benchmark, from 9c and 11c on Wednesday.

Chicago's prompt 3rd-cycle May CBOB was last quoted between 8c and 11c under June Nymex, and the ratable-June timing traded at a discount of 8c to July Nymex.

ULSD for 3rd-cycle May delivery weakened to between 3c and 5c to June Nymex, down from 1.5c and 4c under the day before.

Jet fuel for 3rd-cycle May delivery ended between 9c and 11c over June Nymex, down from 10.5c to 11.5c over on Wednesday.

The June Nymex heating oil contract settled 0.98c above Wednesday's settlement at $2.8219 a gallon. The July contract settled 1.02c higher at $2.8257.

June Nymex RBOB futures settled 0.42c up at $2.8765. The July contract settled 1.87c higher at $2.8193.

-By Rose Marton-Vitale, Dow Jones Newswires; 201-264-4185; rose.marton@dowjones.com

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