LONDON, Aug 16 (Reuters) - Gasoline refining margins innorthwest Europe rose to $7.50 a barrel on Tuesday amid limitedtrading activity as recent stock draws eased concerns overrecent months' glut.
* The arbitrage to the U.S. East Coast has slowed downsignificantly in recent days. Exports to West Africa havesimilarly dwindled as congestion outside Nigeria limited newbuying, traders said.
* Inventories in ARA continued to decline as tankers wereloading volumes booked in recent weeks.
* The gasoline market remained in backwardation into Octoberand storage economics going into the summer of 2017 no longerworked, traders said.
* The nearing seasonal refinery maintenance further boostedexpectations that stocks, which remain above five-year averagelevels, would decline in the coming months.
* The naphtha market remained under heavy pressure due tolittle buying from Asian petrochemical plants.
GASOLINE
* There were no Eurobob trades during the afternoon tradingwindow. There were no bids or offers.
* Some 8,000 tonnes traded in the morning at $462 a tonnefob Amsterdam-Rotterdam, compared with trades at $445-$452 atonne on Monday. Gunvor and Total sold to Shell, Finco and BP.
* Litasco sold a barge of premium unleaded gasoline to Totalat $484 a tonne fob ARA, compared with $477.50 a tonne.
* Gasoline barge refining margins rose to $7.50 a barrelfrom $6 a barrel.
* The September swap stood at around $470 a tonne at theclose, up from $462 a tonne.
* Brent crude oil futures were up 55 cents at $48.90a barrel by 1548 GMT.
* U.S. August RBOB gasoline futures were up 0.6 percent at 1.4088 a gallon.
* The U.S. gasoline crack
NAPHTHA
* BP sold a cargo to Gunvor at $380 a tonne cif NWE.
* The naphtha crack was at around minus $6.35 a barrel. (Reporting by Ron Bousso, Editing by Ahmad Ghaddar)