Europe Gasoline/Naphtha-Gasoline cracks edge higher as crude drops

LONDON, Oct (Shenzhen: 000069.SZ - news) 24 (Reuters) - Gasoline refining margins in northwest Europe edged higher on Monday amid thin trade and a sharp decline in benchmark crude oil futures.

* Several new cargoes of gasoline were booked out of the region on Monday for the U.S. East Coast and West Africa, according to shipping data.

* The transatlantic arbitrage has slowed down in recent weeks after the end of the U.S. peak driving season.

* PBF (Taiwan OTC: 1760.TWO - news) plans to restart 55,000 bpd FCC unit at its Paulsboro, NJ, refinery on Wednesday after roughly 35 days of planned work.

* Monroe Energy plans to keep the 55,000 bpd FCC unit at its Trainer, Pennsylvania refinery shut for at least another 30 days.

* U.S. oil refiners are expected to have 1.0 million bpd of capacity offline in the week to Oct. 28, increasing available capacity by 376,000 bpd, IIR data showed.

* Russian refinery runs in September fell 6.6 percent month-on-month to 22.4 million tonnes. Gasoline production fell 7.1 percent although exports of the motor fuel rose 14.4 percent in the same period.

* China's imports of refined products dropped 27 percent in September compared to a year ago at the same time as exports grew 21 percent, official data showed.

* Indian refiners processed 9.27 percent more crude oil in September than a year ago, preliminary government data showed.

* India's MRPL has delayed the restart of its hydrocracker at its 300,000 bpd refinery in southern India to the first week of November after cracks were detected in the equipment.

* Cosmo Oil said it would mothball one of two CDU at its Yokkaichi refinery in Japan to meet requirements of a government industry directive, that is expected to cut refining capacity to around 3.57 million bpd from 3.79 million bpd by the deadline of the end of March 2017.

* PBF plans to restart 55,000 bpd FCC unit at its Paulsboro, NJ, refinery on Wednesday after roughly 35 days of planned work.

GASOLINE

* No barge trades of benchmark Eurobob gasoline emerged in the afternoon trading window. A bid surfaced at $499 a tonne fob ARA, up from a bid of $495 a tonne fob ARA on Friday.

* Elsewhere during the day, one 2,000 tonne barge traded at $502.50 fob ARA compared to $502-$507 a tonne on Friday. BP sold to Varo.

* Rolympus sold to Total (LSE: 524773.L - news) a barge of premium unleaded gasoline at $524 a tonne fob ARA, down from $525 a tonne.

* The November swap stood at around $496 a tonne at the close, down from $498.50 a tonne.

* Gasoline barge refining margins stood at $9.8 a barrel, up from $9.5 on Friday.

* Brent crude oil futures for December delivery were $1.09 a barrel lower at $50.69 a barrel by 1621 GMT.

* U.S. November RBOB gasoline futures were trading 2.8 percent lower at $1.4879 a gallon.

* The U.S. gasoline crack (RB-CL1=R) traded at $11.16 a barrel, down from $12.22 a barrel on Friday.

NAPHTHA (NAF-C-NWE)

* No trades reported

(Reporting by Sabina Zawadzki)