Europe Gasoline/Naphtha-Gasoline dips, Eurobob scarce

LONDON, June 27 (Reuters) - Gasoline barge prices in
northwest Europe dipped on Wednesday as trading activity
remained subdued against a backdrop of weak demand, but a
shortage of benchmark Eurobob gasoline kept a floor under
prices.

"There is gasoline around - the problem is that there is a
lack of Eurobob," a trader said, adding that refiners had not
increased runs as much as expected. "At the same time, blenders
aren't focusing on Eurobob, but other grades instead."

Traders said refiners had been making RBOB for the U.S.
market. But not much has been moving there outside of the usual
system barrels as the arbitrage is not fully open.

The Energy Information Administration (EIA) in the United
States said that gasoline inventories had soared 2.08 million
barrels week-on-week, far more than a consensus forecast for an
800,000-barrel build, suggesting the U.S. is not exactly short
of gasoline.

Nigeria's third quarter tender has yet to transform into
solid demand from the West African market with the investigation
into subsidy fraud continuing and traders awaiting news of any
repayments.

On the naphtha side, the differential between East and West
has slipped about $5 a tonne over the last 24 hours to some $15
a tonne as Indian companies have tendered cargoes, reducing the
likelihood of European traders sending naphtha East.

Some traders had been looking at moving cargoes from the
Mediterreanean to Asia, but there are no fixtures for July
loading dates as of yet. "The East is physically balanced, even
long, so it doesn't need the barrels," one naphtha trader said.

Traders are hoping that the oversupply of naphtha in Europe
may ease once Sonatrach's Skikda refinery shuts for maintenance
at the start of July.

"The refinery normally exports around 6-7 cargoes of 30,000
tonnes a month," said one naphtha broker.

A trader said this was already factored into prices and
attributed any current tightening in the European market to
demand for naphtha from gasoline blenders.

The spread between gasoline and naphtha is still quite wide
at some $205.17 a tonne for the balance of June and $174.17 a
tonne for July. This makes blending naphtha into gasoline quite
profitable.

GASOLINE

* Three barges of benchmark Eurobob gasoline traded in the
window at $907-$908 a tonne fob ARA, down from Tuesday's trades
at $915-$921 a tonne.

* Gunvor sold all three barges, with Cargill buying two and
Total one.

* Just 3,000 tonnes traded ahead of the window, with Morgan
Stanley selling to Total at $923 a tonne fob ARA, and to Cargill
at $925 a tonne fob ARA.

* Gunvor also sold 2,000 tonnes to Total at $918 a tonne fob
ARA after the window closed.

* No barges of premium unleaded traded once again.

* By 1539 GMT, Eurobob's crack to dated Brent BFO- was at
around $15.98 a barrel, down from around $19.01 a barrel on
Tuesday.

* ICE Brent crude futures were up 45 cents at $93.47
a barrel at 1540 GMT as a Norwegian oil workers' strike
continued.

* U.S. RBOB gasoline futures in New York were down
1.35 percent at $2.6090 a gallon around the same time.

* RBOB's crack to U.S. crude futures RB-CL1=R was trading
at $24.87 a barrel, down from $26.58 a barrel on Tuesday.

NAPHTHA NAF-C-NWE

* One naphtha cargo traded in the window, with Gunvor buying
from Trafigura at $725 a tonne cif NWE. This price was up from
Tuesday's trades at $713-$714 a tonne cif NWE.

* The naphtha refining margin was at around minus $12.06 a
barrel, a little worse than Tuesday's minus $11.38 a barrel.

* Gunvor won a naphtha tender by Italy's Milazzo refinery
for one cargo loading around July 6-8. A trader said the price
was at a premium of around $30 a tonne.

(Reporting by Claire Milhench and Jessica Donati, editing by
William Hardy)