By Libby George
LONDON, Nov 12 (Reuters) - Refinery problems in the Americasare drawing European gasoline cargoes across the Atlantic,providing timely support to refining margins that had beenexpected to fall at the end of the maintenance season.
This could give the region's oil majors such as BP,Total and Royal Dutch Shell an extension towhat was a bumper third quarter for refining profits.
Noble, Vitol and Glencore are redirecting already bookedcargoes into Venezuela, traders said, to meet demand for 2.4million barrels of refined products caused by local refineryoutages.
Distillates that were set to sail to Europe from the UnitedStates - a key source in recent years - are also now goingsouth. Traders who had expected roughly 800,000 tonnes ofU.S.-Europe arbitrage flow in November are revising the figuredown to around 250,000-300,000 tonnes.
"It's keeping freight tight, too, and the transatlanticarbitrage shut," a trader said. "It will be dry for a bit longerthis way."
The tenders from Venezuela add to already strong demand fromEcuador, Brazil and Peru, as well as for stock building on theU.S. Atlantic coast ahead of winter.
At least one cargo from Saudi Arabia's 400,000 barrel perday Jubail refinery is en route to Ecuador on the FalconExpress, according to ship tracking data, and traders said itcould buy more. The long journey around the southern tip ofSouth America, along with a string of other bookings from theU.S. Gulf, underscores Ecuador's thirst for diesel while its ownrefineries undergo maintenance.
The pull is supporting margins in Europe following analready exceptional third-quarter performance that enabled anunseasonal increase in crude runs.
Margins are holding at $6.46 a barrel on average forNovember, just 40 cents lower than September and nearly $2 abarrel above November last year, according to Reuters data.
Analysts had expected the strength to quickly fall away inNovember with the end of the maintenance season and risingimports from the Middle East and Asia.
"While the ramp-up of additional distillation capacity inthe Middle East could take until mid-2015 and seasonal demanddevelopments for Q4 being as they are, Christmas might comeearly for European refiners," consultants JBC Energy said in anote. (Additional reporting by Ron Bousso; Editing by MichaelUrquhart)
