Europe Gasoline-Drops below $700 on crude sell-off, US exports

LONDON, Aug 14 (Reuters) - Gasoline prices dropped by around
$20 a tonne in Europe on Friday, falling below the $700 mark for
the first time this month as crude and U.S. futures for the
motor fuel sold off and demand remained depressed.

Relatively tight supplies and Nigerian demand had pushed
European gasoline prices to a year high of almost $740 a tonne
earlier this week, but the lack of exports going to the key
United States market and volatile crude prices have since caused
prices to drop.

Brokers said the summer driving season in the United States
was coming to an end, with the usual pick-up in demand never
having emerged due to the economic situation.

PRICES

* Premium unleaded 10ppm gasoline barges dropped to $678-689
a tonne fob ARA at the close, compared with Tuesday's deals
around $712.

* A steep drop in crude oil prices saw the crack to dated
Brent BFO- rise to $10.70 a barrel from around $10.50 on
Thursday

* Brent crude futures were down $1.17 at $72.71 by 1613
GMT. [O/R]

* U.S. RBOB gasoline futures RBc1 were down almost 4
percent at $1.93 a gallon.

NAPHTHA

* Naphtha spot prices held at 10-month highs of $640 and
$650 a tonne cif NWE.

* The spot price was around $20 above the August swap price,
pointing to tight conditions on the prompt.

GASOLINE/NAPHTHA SWAPS

* Gasoline barge swaps for September fell by about $25 to
$664 a tonne fob ARA for September.

* The September/October backwardation was assessed slightly
wider at $26 a tonne, up $1.

* Naphtha swaps fell sharply in line with crude, with
September assessed at $603 a tonne cif NWE.

STOCKS

* Gasoline inventories in independent tanks at the
Amsterdam-Rotterdam-Antwerp hub fell to 651,000 tonnes from
674,000 tonnes last week, Dutch oil analyst Pieter Kulsen said
on Thursday. [ARA/]

* Naphtha stocks in ARA fell to 79,000 tonnes from 94,000
tonnes following a burst of petrochemical buying last week.

* This was due to strong buying interest in polyethylene for
use in car manufacturing, traders said.
(Reporting by David Sheppard and Emma Farge, editing by Peter
Blackburn)