Europe Gasoline/Naphtha-Gasoline refining margins gain

LONDON, April 30 (Reuters) - Northwest European gasoline refinery profit margins rose $4.22 to $18.54 a barrel on Thursday as oil prices sharply fell.

• A total of 16,000 metric tons of E5 gasoline barges traded in the Argus window as Exxon Mobil and BP sold to TotalEnergies.

• An additional 18,200 tons of E10 gasoline barges changed hands, with Sahara, Shell, Exxon and Petroineos selling to MB Energy, Trafigura and Varo.

• TotalEnergies' Donges refinery, which represents 20% of France's crude refining capacity, went offline on April 27 for a two-month planned maintenance stop. The refinery is France's second-largest, capable of refining about 11 million tons of crude a year.

• Total has said its European refineries are currently geared to maximise production of jet fuel, then diesel, given the continent's heavy reliance on imports of the fuels.

• Valero Energy Corp VLO.N is running its 13 refineries in the United States and Britain up to 95% of their combined total throughput capacity of 3 million barrels per day (bpd).

• Donald Trump discussed how to mitigate the impact of a possible months-long U.S. blockade of Iran's ports with oil companies, a White House official said on Wednesday, as the U.S. renewed its calls for other nations to help open the Strait of Hormuz.