Europe Gasoline/Naphtha-Gasoline margins up, ARA stocks edge down

LONDON, Dec 27 (Reuters) - Northwest European gasoline refining profit margins rose by around 57 cents on Friday to $7.11 in the first trading session following the two-day Christmas break, as gasoline stocks in the Amsterdam-Rotterdam-Antwerp (ARA) hub fell from the highest in over a year.

• Around 6,000 tons of Eurobob E5 barges traded. Shell SHEL.L and Trafigura sold to Gunvor and Mabanaft.

• In the Platts window, Trafigura offered a Mediterranean gasoline cargo. No buyers emerged and no trades were concluded.

• Gasoline inventories independently held in ARA storage fell by 1% on the week to 1.36 million tons, though remaining at their highest level in over a year, data from Dutch consultancy Insights Global showed.

• Gasoline cargoes arrived in ARA from the Baltics, Scandinavia and the Mediterranean, while cargoes departed for the Americas and other European regions, according to Insights Global.

• Meanwhile, overall EU and UK gasoline exports were set to drop in December to 942,000 bpd from 1.13 million bpd in November, according to Kpler.

(Reporting by Enes Tunagur; Editing by Chris Reese)

((Enes.Tunagur@thomsonreuters.com;))