Europe Gasoline/Naphtha-Gasoline profit margins rise on refinery maintenance

LONDON, Sept 11 (Reuters) - Northwest European gasoline profit margins rose $1.67 a barrel to just under $20 on Thursday, despite higher regional inventories, as upcoming refinery maintenance shutdowns lent support.

• A total of 10,000 metric tons of Eurobob E5 barges traded with Gunvor, Sahara and TotalEnergies selling to Shell and Aramco.

• An additional 21,000 tons in total of E10 barges were traded, with ExxonMobil, Trafigura, Shell and Sahara selling to Varo, BP and MB Energy.

• Gasoline stocks held independently in the Amsterdam-Rotterdam-Antwerp (ARA) refining and storage hub rose sharply by 16%, data from Dutch consultancy Insights Global showed on Thursday.

• Gasoline stocks stood at 1.15 million metric tons, the highest since late July, as export activity slowed down, Insights Global's Rick Veringmeier said.

• U.S. gasoline inventories rose by 1.5 million barrels in the week ending September 5, the EIA said in its report, compared with analysts' expectations in a Reuters poll for a 0.2 million-barrel draw.

• Upcoming refinery maintenance in Europe is expected to keep markets tight. In addition to planned work at Shell's 404,000 barrel per day (bpd) Pernis refinery in Rotterdam, TotalEnergies is set to complete a major shutdown at its Antwerp refinery by September 15, according to a trader citing a note from industry monitor IIR.

• The plant-wide maintenance is expected to last until late December and to involve the 211,000 bpd Crude 4 unit, the 151,000 bpd Crude 3 unit, the gasoline making FCC, as well as the mild hydrocracker, and desulphurisation units, the IIR alert said.

• EU and UK gasoline exports reached 712,000 barrels per day in September so far, according to Kpler data, compared to 873,000 bpd in August.

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