Europe Gasoline/Naphtha-Gasoline margins fall sharply

LONDON, Feb 13 (Reuters) - Northwest European gasoline refining profit margins fell by about $1.50 on Thursday to $8.99 a barrel even as regional inventories tumbled, as slow demand weighed.

• A total of 14,000 metric tons of E5 gasoline traded, as TotalEnergies sold barges to BP, Varo, Vitol and Mabanaft.

• Another 7,000 tons of E10 gasoline barges traded with Varo buying from Sahara and Trafigura.

• In the Platts window, Trafigura offered a gasoline cargo in the Mediterranean, while Musket again offered a cargo for Thames delivery.

• Gasoline stocks independently held in the Amsterdam-Rotterdam-Antwerp (ARA) refining and storage hub fell by nearly 10% on the week, their first decline in seven weeks, data from Dutch consultancy Insights Global showed.

• Gasoline stocks stood at 1.53 million metric tons, falling on higher exports to the United States and slowing imports, Insight Global's Lars van Wageningen said.

• Meanwhile, U.S. gasoline stocks USOILG=ECI fell by 3 million barrels last week to 248.1 million barrels, according to the Energy Information Administration, compared with analysts' expectations in a Reuters poll for a 1.4 million-barrel build.

• UK and EU gasoline exports are on track to reach 847,000 barrels per day so far this month, compared with 1.43 million bpd in January, Kpler data show.