Europe Gasoline/Naphtha-Gasoline refining margins sink on high inventories

LONDON, Jan 16 (Reuters) - Northwest European gasoline refinery profit margins fell by about $1 on Friday, to $6.94 a barrel, as a rise in regional inventories weighed.

• About 16,000 metric tons of Eurobob E5 gasoline traded on barges in the Argus window as ExxonMobil and Trafigura sold to BP, MB Energy, and TotalEnergies.

• An additional 4,000 tons of Eurobob E10 cargoes traded, with TotalEnergies selling to Shell.

• Independently-held gasoline stocks in Amsterdam-Rotterdam-Antwerp (ARA) rose by nearly 11% to 1.4 million tons in the last week, while naphtha stocks rose by over 18% to 688,000 tons, according to data from Dutch consultancy Insights Global.

• Lower gasoline blending margins, and strong imports, likely contributed to the rise in naphtha stocks last week, according to Insights Global's Rick Veringmeier.

• Meanwhile, EU-27 and UK gasoline and blending component exports to other regions have averaged 665,000 barrels per day in January so far, compared to 796,000 bpd across the full month of December.