Europe Gasoline/Naphtha-Gasoline margins up on W Africa, LatAm exports

LONDON, Nov 13 (Reuters) - Gasoline refining margins in northwest Europe reached a one-month high as cargoes left the region for South America and west Africa.

Traders said at least five cargoes of European gasoline are being diverted to Venezuela to meet a PdVSA tender to buy up to eight 300,000 barrel cargoes of diesel and gasoline RON 91 and 95 to be received by Nov. 17.

The sudden, unseasonable demand is draining supply from an unusually tight market. In recent weeks, demand from China, the Middle East and Africa has pulled a slew of cargoes from Europe, enabling margin strength well beyond the typical summer demand and autumn maintenance seasons.

"The Caribbean and the Middle East are still tight," one trader said, adding there could be at least five additional cargo bookings going into Latin America from Europe.

West African buying has also revived, drawing a string of long-range cargoes of gasoline into the region. At least four cargoes have been booked out of Europe in the past week, but traders said more are likely.

"Buyers have received assurances that subsidies will be paid, which in turn has led them to start importing product," a trader said.

Traders had already been provisionally booking cargoes to meet fourth-quarter allocations from Nigeria for three million tonnes.

But a larger-than-expected stock build in the United States is expected to dent export opportunities from Europe in the coming weeks. Gasoline stocks in the United States rose 1.8 million barrels, compared with analysts' expectations in a Reuters poll for a 517,000-barrel gain.

"It's still short on the prompt, but we are seeing less interest for later dates," another trader said.

GASOLINE

* No barges of benchmark Eurobob gasoline traded in the afternoon window. Only bids appeared at $739 a tonne fob ARA.

* Some 4,000 tonnes total traded ahead of the window at $743-$759 a tonne fob ARA, below the $754-$766 a tonne the day earlier. BP and Total sold to Trafigura, Shell (LSE: RDSB.L - news) and Argos.

* The early trades came at a premium to the December swap of $30-$38 a tonne. The swap was around $712 a tonne at the close, below the $732.50 a tonne on Wednesday.

* Argos sold one barge of premium unleaded to Noble (NYSE: NE - news) at $761 a tonne fob ARA, down from Wednesday's trades at $779-$781 a tonne.

* At 1655 GMT Eurobob's crack spread to dated Brent (BFO-) was at $11.53, up from $11.06.

* Brent crude oil futures were down 1.68 at $78.70 a barrel.

* U.S. RBOB gasoline futures for December were down 2.71 percent at 2.0700. The prompt crack (RB-CL1=R) was at $10.68 a barrel, down from $11.09 a barrel.

NAPHTHA (NAF-C-NWE)

* Shell sold one cargo of naphtha to Morgan Stanley (Xetra: 885836 - news) at $619 a tonne cif NWE, down from Wednesday's $629-$632 a tonne.

* The naphtha crack spread rose to minus $9.09 a barrel, up from minus $9.41 a barrel. (Reporting by Libby George; Editing by Michael Urquhart)