Europe Gasoline/Naphtha-Gasoline cracks ease, exports support

LONDON, Oct (HKSE: 3366-OL.HK - news) 12 (Reuters) - Northwest European gasoline refining margins eased on Wednesday but strong demand to export the motor fuel on transatlantic journeys and to West Africa limited losses.

* Several new shipping fixtures emerged showing traders planning to export gasoline from Europe to North America and West Africa.

* Traders were also seeking to move reformate from ARA to China, as demand for the blendstock from Asian markets nudges higher.

* Interest in moving naphtha from the Baltic and other European locations to Brazil also emerged.

* Qatargas began operations at its Ras Laffan 2 condensate splitter over the weekend after technical issues delayed a planned September start-up of the unit.

* The 146,000 barrel per day facility has begun trial runs, two sources with knowledge of the matter said. The plant's current operating rate was not immediately known.

* Koch Supply & Trading (KS&T), a trading arm for Koch Industries KCHIN.UL, is considering the option to sell its 85,000 barrels-per-day Rotterdam oil refinery in the Netherlands, the company said.

* The refinery is the largest producer of naphtha in northwest Europe.

GASOLINE

* Barges of benchmark Eurobob gasoline traded at $498-$500 a tonne fob ARA during the later afternoon window, down from $511 a tonne on Tuesday. Gunvor sold to Shell (LSE: RDSB.L - news) and Rolympus.

* Elsewhere during the day, around 16,000 tonnes traded at $506-$521 a tonne fob Amsterdam-Rotterdam, compared with $516-$523 a tonne the previous day.

* Gunvor sold to Total (LSE: 524773.L - news) two barges of premium unleaded gasoline at $519 a tonne fob ARA, down from $530 a tonne.

* The November swap stood at around $490.50 a tonne at the close, down from $496.50 a tonne.

* Gasoline barge refining margins fell slightly to $10.80 a barrel, from $11.08 a barrel on Tuesday.

* Brent crude oil futures for December delivery were down 61 cents a barrel at $51.80 by 1546 GMT.

* U.S. November RBOB gasoline futures were 1.37 percent lower at $1.4626 a gallon.

* The U.S. gasoline crack (RB-CL1=R) was trading at $11.39 a barrel, up from $10.80 a barrel on Tuesday.

NAPHTHA (NAF-C-NWE)

* Gunvor sold a cargo to BASF at $432 a tonne cif NWE.

(Reporting by Ahmad Ghaddar; Editing by Amanda Cooper)