Europe Gasoline/Naphtha-Gasoline profit margins firm

LONDON, Aug 21 (Reuters) - Northwest European gasoline profit margins firmed by about $1.50 a barrel to $15.62 a barrel on Thursday supported by lower U.S. inventories.

• A total of 10,000 metric tons of Eurobob E5 barges traded in the session, with Trafigura, Gunvor and BP selling to Sahara, Varo and TotalEnergies.

• No Eurobob E10 barges traded.

• Gasoline stocks held independently in the Amsterdam-Rotterdam-Antwerp (ARA) refining and storage hub were little changed at 1.05 million tons, data from Dutch consultancy Insights Global showed on Thursday.

• U.S. gasoline inventories, meanwhile, fell by 2.7 million barrels in the week to August 15, compared with analysts' expectations for a 915,000 barrel draw in a Reuters poll, Energy Information Administration data showed.

• Several regions in Russia and parts of Ukraine it controls are reporting gasoline shortages after Ukraine stepped up attacks on Russian oil refineries this month, and amid a seasonal surge in fuel demand.

• The Trump administration is expected to rule on a growing backlog of requests from small refiners seeking relief from the nation's biofuel laws as early as Friday, but will delay a decision on whether larger refiners should make up for some of the exempt gallons, according to two sources familiar with the planning.

• France's Loire-Atlantique prefecture said in a statement on Thursday that a fire broke out at TotalEnergies' TTEF.PA Donges refinery at 2.43 p.m. local time but was extinguished onsite by 4 p.m.

• It added that there were no victims of the fire and that it is awaiting air quality test results.

• TotalEnergies declined to comment.

• EU and UK gasoline and blending component exports to other regions averaged 809,000 bpd in August so far, compared to 999,000 bpd in July, Kpler data showed.

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