LONDON- Gasoline refining margins jumped following Reuters switching the base for its assessment from winter- to summer-grade gasoline on Thursday.
* Vitol is storing gasoline on tankers offshore Singapore, Asia's biggest oil trading centre, for the first time since 2016 amid oversupply and weak demand for the fuel, four people that participate in the market said.
* U.S. gasoline stocks fell last week by 3.5 million barrels, compared with analysts' expectations in a Reuters poll for a 2 million barrel drop, the EIA said in its weekly report.
* The transatlantic gasoline export route has seen little activity in recent days, but the draws could spark some new buying interest, traders said.
* The ARA barge market remained busy due to strong demand for gasoline and blending component in inland markets, traders said.
* Venezuela's state-run oil firm PDVSA plans to shut an oil upgrader in April for major maintenance work, leading to a sharp increase in naphtha imports to 83,000 bpd in April from 64,500 bpd in March, according to the document, which does not specify the duration of the shutdown. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N1R81AY
* Venezuela imports naphtha mainly from the U.S. and uses it to dilute its crude grades to make them exportable.
GASOLINE EURO/DIFF/MOGAS
* Gunvor sold a barge of eurobob gasoline to Shell for $663 a tonne compared with a bid at $672 a tonne fob ARA on Wednesday.
* Elsewhere, Total and Prax sold 5 barges to Shell at $667 a ton fob ARA.
* Statoil sold two barges of premium unleaded gasoline to Total at $701 a tonne fob ARA and one at $700. Glencore sold one to Total at $701 a tonne fob ARA and one at $700.
* No cargoes traded.
* The April swap stood at $666 a tonne at the close, down from $669.
* The benchmark EBOB gasoline refining margin rose to $11.759 a barrel from $2.59 a barrel as Reuters switched its assessment to summer-grade gasoline on Thursday.
* Brent crude futures LCOc1 were down 33 cents at $69.20 a barrel at 1234 GMT.
* U.S. front-month RBOB gasoline futures RBc1 were down 0.25 percent at $2.0065 a gallon.
* The U.S. gasoline crack RBc1-CLc1 was down 1.37 percent at $20.15 a barrel.
* No cargoes traded.
(Reporting by Shadia Nasralla Editing by Alexandra Hudson) ((Shadia.Nasralla@thomsonreuters.com; +44 207 542 5083; +44 778 99 43141; Reuters Messaging: Reuters Messaging: shadia.nasralla.reuters.com@reuters.net))
