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LONDON, Aug 25 (Reuters) - Gasoline refining margins innorthwest Europe eased on Thursday as stocks in the ARA storagehub climbed, but continued export demand gave cracks a floor.
* Gasoline stocks independently held in theAmsterdam-Rotterdam-Antwerp oil hub rose by over 6 percent inthe week to Thursday, Dutch consultancy PJK International said.
* But the upcoming European autumn refinery maintenanceseason is expected to help soak up some of the supply excess.
* European refinery turnarounds are set to peak at around1.1 million barrels per day (bpd) in mid-September, less thanhalf the volume that was out during the same period last yearbut globally, the turnaround outage will be larger at roughly 7percent of global refinery throughput .
* In a move that could spur more spot gasoline cargo demandfrom Europe, the Brazilian government has no plans to extend atax exemption for ethanol sales that expires in December as itpushes to rebalance the country's depleted public accounts.
* Lifting the exemption is likely to spur an increase inBrazilian gasoline imports to meet greater demand for the fuelas ethanol demand falls.
* Shell said it expected increased flaring at its 404,000barrels-per-day Pernis refinery in the Netherlands on Fridayevening, linked to a unit coming online.
GASOLINE
* There were no Eurobob trades during the afternoon tradingwindow. There was a bid at $487 a tonne fob ARA, up from a bidat $484 a tonne the previous day.
* Some 12,000 tonnes traded throughout the day at $478-$485a tonne fob Amsterdam-Rotterdam, compared with $480-$486 a tonneon Wednesday. Gunvor sold to Rolympus, Shell, Finco, Glencoreand BP.
* Rolympus sold a barge of premium unleaded gasoline toTotal at $503 a tonne fob ARA, up from $491 a tonne on Tuesday.
* The September swap stood at around $490 a tonne at theclose, up from $484 a tonne.
* Gasoline barge refining margins fell to $9.19 a barrelfrom $9.58 a barrel on Wednesday.
* Brent crude oil futures were up 35 cents at $49.40a barrel by 1540 GMT.
* U.S. August RBOB gasoline futures were down 0.79percent at 1.4976 a gallon.
* The U.S. gasoline crack
NAPHTHA
* BP sold to Gunvor and BASF sold to Statoil. Both tradeswere completed at $399 a tonne cif NWE. (Reporting by Ahmad Ghaddar)
