Europe Gasoline/Naphtha-Gasoline cracks rise despite U.S. inventory build

LONDON, Nov 23 (Reuters) - Gasoline refining margins in northwest Europe rose slightly on Wednesday despite a larger than expected build in U.S. inventories last week, as overseas demand supported.

* U.S. gasoline stocks rose 2.3 million barrels last week, compared with analysts' expectations in a Reuters poll for a 643,000-barrel gain, Energy Information Administration data showed on Wednesday.

* Gasoline demand over the past four weeks was 9.2 mln bpd, only 0.6 percent higher from a year ago.

* Demand from Asia, the U.S. and the Middle East have been keeping margins supported.

* At least three tankers of reformate were reported to be booked to go from northwest Europe to the Asia on Wednesday.

* The U.S. government on Wednesday issued final requirements for biofuel use for next year, saying energy companies must boost the amount of renewables in the nation's fuel supply.

* The Environmental Protection Agency in a statement set the target for total renewable fuel use at 19.28 billion gallons for 2017. That includes 15 billion gallons for conventional biofuel, which is mainly corn-based ethanol, and 4.28 billion gallons for the advanced biofuels mandate, confirming figures Reuters previously reported.

* U.S. gasoline margins rose by more than 5 percent in early trading Wednesday as the Gulf Region battles a spate of outages at refineries with a combined capacity of over 1 million barrels-per-day.

GASOLINE

* There were no trades of benchmark Eurobob gasoline barges in the afternoon window.

* Earlier in the day, 8,000 tonnes of Eurobob gasoline traded at $466-$470.50 a tonne fob Amsterdam-Rotterdam, compared with $467-$472 a tonne on Tuesday.

* Rolympus sold to Total (LSE: 524773.L - news) a barge of premium unleaded at $478 a tonne fob ARA, up from $475 a tonne.

* The December swap stood at $470 a tonne at the close, up from $466 a tonne.

* Gasoline barge refining margins rose to $9.35 a barrel from $9.07 a barrel.

* U.S. December RBOB gasoline futures were trading 0.43 percent higher at $1.4195 a gallon at 1659 GMT.

* The U.S. gasoline crack (RBC1-CLC1) traded at $11.59 a barrel, up from $11.14 a barrel.

NAPHTHA (NAF-C-NWE)

* Glencore (HKSE: 0805.HK - news) sold a cargo to Petredec at $429 a tonne cif NWE, compared with a trade at $430 a tonne on Tuesday.

(Reporting by Ahmad Ghaddar; Editing by Amanda Cooper)