Europe Gasoline/Naphtha-Gasoline margins jump as crude tumbles

LONDON, April 3 (Reuters) - Northwest European gasoline refining profit margins rose by $1.67 to an eight-month high of $14.26 a barrel on Thursday, even as regional inventories rose, as underlying crude prices slumped on a US tariff announcement.

• A total of 12,000 metric tons of Eurobob E10 traded, with Phillips 66 and Gunvor selling Varo and Trafigura.

• Another 12,000 tons of Eurobob E5 traded, with Trafigura selling to Litasco and BP.

• Oil product stocks independently held in the Amsterdam-Rotterdam-Antwerp (ARA) refining and storage hub rose by over 2% on the week, data from Dutch consultancy Insights Global showed on Thursday.

• Total stocks stood at 6.08 million metric tons, the data showed.

• Gasoline stocks rose 6.3% to 1.46 million tons on increased blending activity and lower exports, Insight Global's Rick Veringmeier said.

• Naphtha stocks jumped nearly 22% to 516,000 tons on higher gasoline blending activity, he added.

• U.S. gasoline stocks fell by 1.6 million barrels in the week to 237.6 million barrels, the EIA said, compared with analysts' expectations in a Reuters poll for a 1.7 million-barrel draw.

• Oil prices fell on Thursday as the decision by the OPEC+ group to speed up its unwinding of oil output cuts in May compounded already heavy losses following U.S. President Donald Trump's announcement of sweeping new tariffs.

• Trump on Wednesday unveiled a 10% minimum tariff on most goods imported to the United States, the world's biggest oil consumer, with much higher duties on products from dozens of countries.​

• EU and UK gasoline and blending component exports to other regions reached 870,000 barrels per day (bpd) in March, Kpler data shows, up slightly from 861,000 bpd in February.