LONDON, Aug 4 (Reuters) - Gasoline refining margins innorthwest Europe rose above $9 a barrel on Thursday after astock draw in ARA and as falling stocks on the U.S. East Coastprompted several export cargo bookings.
* Gasoline stocks independently held in theAmsterdam-Rotterdam-Antwerp hub fell nearly 10 percent in theweek to Thursday due to larger exports, Dutch consultancy PJKInternational said.
* Following a large draw in U.S. East Coast gasolineinventories last week, several tankers have been booked over thepast day on the transatlantic route from Europe.
* With gasoline prices switching in recent days intobackwardation until November, traders have been releasingvolumes from storage and opting to export them to the U.S. EastCoast, Latin America and Canada, traders said.
* S&P Global Platts, a provider of information and benchmarkprices for the commodities and energy markets, has signed anagreement to acquire global energy market analysis firm PIRAEnergy Group, it said in a statement Thursday.
GASOLINE
* No barges traded in the afternoon window. Bids came in at$419 to $431 a tonne fob ARA but there were no offers.
* Another 15,000 tonnes traded throughout the day at$423-$430 a tonne fob Amsterdam-Rotterdam, compared with tradesat $413-$422 a tonne on Wednesday. Gunvor, Koch, Statoil andVitol sold to Shell, Rolympus, OELPool, BP and Varo.
* Six barges of premium unleaded gasoline traded at$437-$439 a tonne fob ARA, compared with trades at $436 a tonne.Rolympus and Litasco sold to Total.
* Gasoline barge refining margins rose to $9.2 a barrel from$8.6 a barrel.
* The September swap stood at around $427.15 a tonne at theclose, up from $425.25 a tonne.
* Brent crude oil futures rose 47 cents to $43.57 abarrel by 1550 GMT.
* U.S. August RBOB gasoline futures were down 0.14 percent at 1.3479 a gallon.
* The U.S. gasoline crack
NAPHTHA
* No naphtha cargoes traded. (Reporting by Ron Bousso, editing by Libby George)