Europe Gasoline/Naphtha-Gasoline margins slide as oversupply weighs

LONDON, July 29 (Reuters) - Northwest European gasoline margins fell on Friday, pressured by weak overseas demand and heavy Atlantic (Shanghai: 600558.SS - news) basin supplies.

* Simple European refiners are cutting runs by up to 5 percent, enabling them to hold onto some profits by taking out marginal barrels and units that produce lower-quality fuels, according to a Mediterranean trade source.

* Results this week from majors including Royal Dutch Shell (Xetra: A0ET6Q - news) , Total (LSE: 524773.L - news) , BP and ENI (LSE: 0N9S.L - news) show refinery margins crashing by as much as half from last year.

* Chevron Corp posted its worst quarterly loss since 2001 on Friday and Exxon Mobil Corp reported a 59 percent slide in quarterly profit, both victims of a prolonged rout in crude prices CLc1LCOc1 and sinking income from refining, a sign of the broad malaise across the energy sector.

* Exxon processed 4 percent less crude in the quarter than a year ago and produced less gasoline, an unusual step as low oil prices typically encourage refiners to produce more.

* PBF Energy Inc (NYSE: PBF - news) has cut production by up to 7 percent across its refinery network to deal with slumping margins caused by soaring inventories of gasoline and diesel, PBF Chief Executive Officer Tom Nimbley said on an earnings call on Friday.

* Philadelphia Energy Solutions Inc was in the market for gasoline after the company shut a gasoline-making unit at the Girard Point section of its Philadelphia refinery complex, according to traders.

* Spain's 220,000 barrels-per-day Bilbao oil refinery experienced a temporary shut down after a power outage, operator Petronor expects plant to become operational again in 48 hours.

GASOLINE

* No barges of benchmark eurobob gasoline traded during the afternoon session. Bids and offers emerged at $412-$418 a tonne fob ARA.

* In morning trade, 4,000 tonnes changed hands at $411 a tonne fob AR, down from $421-$425 a tonne on Thursday. Total sold a barge each to Shell (LSE: RDSB.L - news) and Finco.

* Vitol sold a barge of premium unleaded gasoline to Total at $433 a tonne fob ARA, compared with bid and offer discussions the previous day at $442-$447 a tonne.

* Gasoline barge refining margins fell to $7.56 a barrel from $8.99 a barrel.

* The August swap stood at around $418 a tonne at the close, down from $424 a tonne.

* Brent crude oil futures were down 40 cents at $42.30 a barrel by 1553 GMT.

* U.S (Other OTC: UBGXF - news) . August RBOB gasoline futures were down 0.70 percent at 1.2970 a gallon.

* The U.S. gasoline crack (RB-CL1=R) was trading at $13.13 a barrel, down from $13.54 a barrel.

NAPHTHA (NAF-C-NWE)

* No cargoes traded. (Reporting by Ahmad Ghaddar)