Europe Gasoline/Naphtha-Gasoline refining margins slide despite US stock draw

LONDON, March 18 (Reuters) - Northwest European gasoline refinery profit margins fell by about $1.61 to $11.88 a barrel on Wednesday, even as U.S. gasoline inventories fell last week, according to Energy Information Administration (EIA) data.

• About 20,000 metric tons of E10 gasoline barges traded in the Argus window; TotalEnergies selling to Varo, Trafigura Shell, and ExxonMobil selling to TotalEnergies.

• An additional 14,000 tons of E5 gasoline barges traded in the session, with Varo, Equinor, Trafigura and Sahara selling to Shell and TotalEnergies.

• U.S. gasoline stocks fell by 5.4 million barrels in the week to 244 million barrels, the EIA said, compared with analysts' expectations in a Reuters poll for a 1.6 million-barrel draw.​

• U.S. President Donald Trump's administration on Wednesday announced a 60-day waiver of the Jones Act shipping law, temporarily allowing foreign-flagged vessels to move fuel, fertilizer and other goods between U.S. ports to combat price increases and supply disruptions from the Iran conflict.

• U.S. Vice President JD Vance and Energy Secretary Chris Wright will meet on Thursday with the American Petroleum Institute, the nation's largest oil trade group, as the Trump administration looks to ease rising gas prices.

• Saudi Arabia's state oil giant Aramco restarted its Ras Tanura oil refinery on March 13, having shut down the plant on March 2 following a drone attack, industry monitor IIR said.

• EU-27 and UK gasoline and blending component exports to other regions have averaged 702,000 barrels per day so far in March according to Kpler data, compared with 878,000 bpd in February.