Europe Gasoline/Naphtha-Gasoline refining margins drop on stockbuilds

LONDON, Jan 23 (Reuters) - Northwest European gasoline refinery profit margins fell by $2.21 to $8.31 a barrel on Friday on high stocks.

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

• Another 10,000 tons of Eurobob E10 cargoes traded with Phillips 66 selling to both Shell and Varo.

• Gasoline inventories in the U.S. rose by about 5.98 million barrels last week to 256.99 million barrels, the highest since February 2021, data from the Energy Information Administration showed.

• While the market was in contango due to seasonally weak demand, it was also bracing for what could be a tight balance once the next round of refinery maintenance takes supply out of the market amid demand ramping up seasonally in the second quarter, analysts at Sparta Commodities said.

• Meanwhile, EU-27 and UK gasoline and blending component exports to other regions have averaged 858,000 barrels per day so far in January, against 824,000 bpd over the whole of December.