Europe Gasoline/Naphtha-Gasoline refining profit margins rise

LONDON, Dec 24 (Reuters) - Northwest European gasoline refinery profit margins gained 77 cents to $9.68 a barrel on Wednesday.

• About 22,000 metric tons of Eurobob E5 gasoline traded on barges as ExxonMobil, Trafigura and Equinor sold to Shell and BP.

• Another 4,000 tons of Eurobob E10 gasoline barges traded in the session, with TotalEnergies selling to Trafigura.

• U.S. crude oil stockpiles were expected to have fallen last week, while distillate and gasoline inventories likely rose, an extended Reuters poll of seven analysts for the U.S. Energy Information Administration's data showed. EIA/S

• The EIA is due to release official inventory data on Monday, later than usual due to the Christmas holiday.

• Market sources, citing American Petroleum Institute figures on Tuesday, said gasoline inventories rose by 1.09 million barrels.

• Meanwhile, EU-27 and UK gasoline exports to other regions have averaged 804,000 barrels per day so far this month, down from 943,000 bpd across the full month of November.