april 25 reuters  global diesel margins have slumped by about half since february dragging on refiners profits as russian exports continue despite sanctions helping output from china and india reach alltime highs in march western sanctions and price caps on russian crude and oil products introduced in december and february had been expected to tighten oil supplies globally however russia continues to ship out lowcost oil enabling its biggest clients  india and china  to boost their refining output and exports russian oil products meanwhile are being sent in high volumes to oil hubs to be stored and reexported worldwide in addition several new refining complexes are coming online this year in the middle east and china churning out more oil products for export and further depressing refining margins indias reliance industries relins operator of the worlds largest refining complex said in its earnings call on friday gasoil margins dropped as russian diesel supplies have remained firm while an unusually mild winter in europe led to a buildup in inventories demand for gasoil to replace natural gas in power generation has also fallen after spot liquefied natural gas lng prices eased from alltime highs the company said benchmark european diesel barge refining margins drifted to their lowest since february 2022 last week to about 1370 a barrel according to reuters assessments pressured by high import volumes and the restart of french refineries after labourrelated strikes similarly asian gasoil margins have fallen by 31 in april to the lowest since january 2022 at about 14 a barrel last week because of high inventories and as the arbitrage window to europe has been shut for months profit on processing a barrel of brent crude at a typical european refinery has plunged by about 71 to the lowest since january last year to 356 a barrel in april while refining profit margins in asia are down by around 57 to 254 a barrel in the month  in the us distillate demand is quite weak and that is corroborated by a lot of macroeconomic indicators including industrial production that are softening said mathew blair refining analyst at energy research firm tudor pickering holt  co however us gasoline margins are firm ahead of summer driving season and low inventories supporting overall refining margins against west texas intermediate crude at around 21 a barrel refinitiv data showed gasoline stocks rose unexpectedly last week for the first time in eight weeks but are still 99 million barrels below the 20152019 average and 88 million barrels below last years levels energy consultancy fge said in asia refiners were raising gasoline production and trimming diesel to improve their margins higher gasoline output and increased exports from china could narrow the regions deficit for the motor fuel monthonmonth in may fge added in a note dated april 21 likewise benchmark european gasoline margins are under pressure from a sharp fall in demand for cargoes from key markets in west africa even as exports on the transatlantic route recover from last month northwest european shipments so far in april on the two routes stand at 127 million tonnes down from the 179 million tonnes exported last month and well under the 184 million exported the same time last year refinitiv data showed russia stepped up shipments of the motor fuel to african countries after the european union banned russian products on feb 5 also exports from the netherlands to low income countries including in africa fell after new dutch regulations on standards for fuel blends started on april 1 reporting by mohi narayan in new delhi ahmad ghaddar in london and laura sanicola in washington editing by florence tan and lincoln feast