Europe Gasoline/Naphtha-Gasoline refining margins gain

LONDON, Feb 4 (Reuters) - Northwest European gasoline refinery profit margins rose on Wednesday by 74 cents to about $7.28 a barrel as U.S. inventories rose by less than expected.

• About 6,000 metric tons of Eurobob E10 gasoline traded on barges in the Argus window, with Phillips 66 and Shell selling to Varo and TotalEnergies.

• Another 6,000 tons of E5 gasoline barges traded on Argus, with BP and Exxon Mobil selling to Varo.

• Varo also bought a Eurobob E5 barge from BP in the Platts window.

• U.S. gasoline stocks USOILG=ECI rose by 685,000 barrels last week to 257.9 million barrels, the highest since June 2020, Energy Information Administration data showed. That compared with analysts' expectations in a Reuters poll for a 1.4 million-barrel build.​

• The U.S. Treasury Department on Tuesday issued a new license authorizing the export and sale to Venezuela of U.S. diluents, a key fuel needed to produce exportable crude oil grades in the OPEC country, according to a document shown to Reuters by an administration official.

• Meanwhile, EU-27 and UK gasoline and blending component exports to other regions averaged 866,000 barrels per day in January, against 806,000 bpd in December.