Europe Gasoline-Cracks below $6 on demand lull

LONDON, Nov 11 (Reuters) - European gasoline crack spreads
hovered near three-week lows beneath $6 a barrel as muted local
demand and a lack of spot arbitrage opportunities to the United
States weighed.

Barge prices fell below $700 a tonne fob ARA despite a jump
in Brent crude prices LCOc1 towards $78 a barrel in intra-day
trade.

PRICES

* Gasoline prices fell to trade between $694-$698 a tonne
fob ARA, down from between $702-$704 on Wednesday's close.

* The crack to dated Brent BFO-1 was at around $5.92 a
barrel.

* U.S. RBOB gasoline RBc1 was trading about nearly 2 cents
higher at $1.99 a gallon, with technical charts showing that $2
a gallon was being enforced as a key resistance level.

* No naphtha discussion was reported on Wednesday but
traders saw prices moving sideways in a balanced market.

* "Petrochemical firms can pick up some stuff but blenders
are holding back and those who have cargoes would rather wait
for the arbitrage to open," said a trader.

SWAPS

* On the swaps market, balance of November was $697.50 a
tonne fob ARA and $1 above the December contract.

* Intermonth spreads further down the curve were in contango
with December/January and January/February both around $8.50.

* Swaps showed the arbitrage gasoline shipment from Europe
to the United States would be unprofitable for November. Exports
in December would make $3 a tonne.

* November/December naphtha swaps mirrored gasoline and were
in a $1 backwardation. The December/January structure was flat.

* The spread between propane -- a grade of the feedstock
liquefied petroleum gas -- and naphtha was at $7 for November
and $4 for December, with naphtha at a discount.

* This will ensure that naphtha remains the feedstock of
choice for the remainder of the year, traders said.