Europe Gasoline/Naphtha-Cracks rise, trade remain thin

LONDON, March 19 (Reuters) - Northwestern European gasoline refining margins rose on Thursday as inventories fell, but trade remained weak amid the coronavirus outbreak. * Gasoline stocks held in independent storage in the Amsterdam-Rotterdam-Antwerp (ARA) refining and storage hub were down 1.25% to 1.1 million tonnes, data from Dutch consultancy Insights Global showed. * Saudi Aramco will continue reducing operations at its local refineries in April and May to boost the state energy company’s potential to export crude oil, a company official said on Thursday. * Japanese refiners may need to cut run rates to meet falling fuel demand because of the spreading coronavirus outbreak, the head of the Petroleum Association of Japan (PAJ) said on Thursday. * U.S. gasoline stocks fell last week by 6.2 million barrels to 240.82 million barrels, EIA data showed, compared with analysts' expectations in a Reuters poll for a 2.9 million-barrel drop. Gasoline (in tonnes) Trades Bids Offers Prev. Sellers Buyers (vol.) Trades Ebob $172 $178 Barges MOC Platts E5 (fob ARA) <EUROBO B-ARA> Ebob Barges E10 Platts( fob ARA) Ebob $180 $199.50 Shell Hartre Barges (2Kt) e Argus E5(fob AR) Ebob $170 $180 Finco Hartre Barges (2Kt) e E10 Argus (fob AR) April $201.50 $196.25 swap fob ARA Premium $199 Unleade d (fob ARA) <PU-10P P-ARA> Cargoes (fob MED) Cargoes one (cif cargo NWE) ended at April -$5.00 (Falcon ara) Naphtha (cif NWE) <NAF-C- NWE> Ebob crack (per barrel) -$2.735 prev. -$3.416 Brent futures Rbob Rbob crack <RBc1-CLc1> (Reporting by Bozorgmehr Sharafedin Editing by Nick Tattersall)