Europe Gasoline/Naphtha-Cracks rise on strong LatAm buying

LONDON, Nov 11 (Reuters) - Gasoline refining margins in northwest Europe edged higher on Friday supported by strong demand from Latin America and tightening stocks in the region.

* Strong demand from Brazil, Mexico and Latin America has significantly boosted the Atlantic basin, leading to a sharp increase in exports from Europe to the region as supplies in the U.S. Gulf Coast dwindled, traders said.

* The transatlantic arbitrage and ongoing refinery maintenance in Europe have supported refining margins, particularly in inland markets, traders said.

* Supplies in the ARA hub dropped in the week to Thursday by 9 percent, according to PJK International.

* Shell (LSE: RDSB.L - news) booked the 60,000 tonne tanker Al Dasma to ship a cargo of gasoline from ARA to Karachi, shipping data showed and traders said, following a recent change in Pakistan's fuel standard.

* Philadelphia Energy Solutions successfully restarted the 50,000 barrel-per-day fluid catalytic cracker Thursday at the Point Breeze section of its Philadelphia refinery complex, according to a source familiar with the plant's operations. The gasoline-making unit was unexpectedly shut Saturday due to a compressor issue.

* Main product stocks in key areas (USA, ARA independent storage and Singapore/Japan) posted another large drawdown over the last week of 7 million barrels, FGE said in a report. This is now the third0 consecutive weekly drawdown, with a net total drawdown now of 36 million barrels since the beginning of October.

GASOLINE

* Gunvor sold to Varo one barge of benchmark Eurobob gasoline in the afternoon trading window at $434 a tonne fob ARA.

* Earlier in the day, 5,000 tonnes of benchmark gasoline traded at between $441-445 a tonne fob ARA, compared with $456.00 and $446.50 a tonne on Thursday.

* Shell sold to Total (LSE: 524773.L - news) three barges of premium unleaded gasoline at $447 and $448.50 a tonne fob ARA, compared with $456 a tonne on Thursday.

* The December swap stood at around $432.50 a tonne at the close, down from $441 a tonne a day earlier.

* Gasoline barge refining margins stood at $9.57 a barrel, up from $9.28 a barrel.

* U.S. December RBOB gasoline futures were trading 2.2 percent lower at $1.3084 a gallon at 1640 GMT.

* The U.S. gasoline crack (RBC1-CLC1) traded at $11.65 a barrel, up from $11.50 at the previous close.

NAPHTHA (NAF-C-NWE)

* No trades were reported.

(Reporting by Ron Bousso. Editing by Ahmad Ghaddar)