Europe Gasoline/Naphtha-Gasoline refining margins dip

LONDON, Jan 14 (Reuters) - Northwest European gasoline refinery profit margins dipped by $1.82 on Wednesday to $7.42 a barrel on rising stockpiles.

• About 16,450 metric tons of Eurobob E5 gasoline traded on barges in the Argus window as Gunvor, ExxonMobil and Trafigura sold to BP, Varo and MB Energy.

• An additional 15,200 tons of Eurobob E10 cargoes traded, with Shell, ExxonMobil and BP selling to Varo and MB Energy.

• U.S. crude and gasoline inventories both rose more than expected last week, the Energy Information Administration said on Wednesday, as refining activity and imports jumped.

• Gasoline stocks increased by 9 million barrels in the week ending January 9 compared with analysts' expectations in a Reuters poll for a 3.6 million-barrel build and marking the biggest weekly increase since December 2023. Inventories on the U.S. Gulf Coast jumped to their highest level since January 2020. EIA/S

• Marathon Petroleum is overhauling the gasoline-producing fluidic catalytic cracker 3 (FCC-3) and two hydrotreaters at its 631,000 barrel-per-day (bpd) Galveston Bay Refinery in Texas City, Texas, said people familiar with plant operations late on Tuesday. FCCs use a fine silica catalyst to convert gas oil into unfinished gasoline.

• Meanwhile, EU-27 and UK gasoline exports to other regions have averaged 510,000 barrels per day in January so far, compared to 799,000 bpd across the full month of December.