LONDON, Dec 4 (Reuters) - Gasoline and naphtha prices fell

more sharply than crude on Tuesday, as support from west Africa

thinned and activity continued to slow ahead of the winter

holidays.

Around 15 gasoline cargoes have been booked for delivery to

west African countries over the next few weeks, a trader said,

with most of the deliveries going to Nigeria and Angola.

'There has been a little bit of interest, but the main

buying was last week,' said one gasoline trader.

Independent firms were buying, along with traders that swap

product deliveries for crude, he added.

Naphtha prices were also dampened by weaker demand in other

regions, as cracks in Asia fell, reflecting falling demand by

petrochemical end users.

In Europe however, hopes for sales to petrochemical buyers

were boosted by the relative strength of rival feedstock

propane.

Propane cargoes continued to trade at least $100 a tonne

above naphtha cargoes, with the December propane/naphtha swap

hovering at around $101 a tonne, a propane trader said.

More generally, steep oil market losses also weighed on

product markets in the region on Tuesday. Brent shed more than

1.3 percent during the session, dragged lower by concerns about

the U.S. budget crisis and falling global fuel demand.

GASOLINE

* No barges of benchmark Eurobob traded in the window on

Tuesday, for a fifth session.

* Some nine barges changed hands ahead of the window, with

prices falling from $964 to $953 a tonne fob ARA during the

session, below Monday's $967-$973 a tonne fob ARA range.

* Trafigura did most of the selling and some of the buying,

while Gunvor, Shell, Chevron and BP also bought and sold barges

during the day.

* The early trades came at premiums to the December swap of

$11.50-$15 a tonne, wider than Monday's $13-$14 a tonne range.

* Four barges of premium unleaded gasoline traded in the

window at $973 a tonne fob ARA, down from $984-$986 a tonne fob

ARA on Monday.

* Statoil and Vitol sold to Total, Glencore and Litasco.

* In the northwest, Gunvor sold a cargo to Greenergy at $969

a tonne cif Thames for delivery on Dec. 14-18.

* At 1709 GMT, Brent crude oil futures were down

$1.32 at $109.60 a barrel.

* Eurobob's crack to dated Brent was at around $3.49

a barrel, down from $4.53 a barrel the previous afternoon.

* December U.S. RBOB gasoline futures were down 1.32

percent at $2.6905 a gallon.

* RBOB's crack to U.S. crude futures was at

$24.49 a barrel, close to a dollar below the previous close.

NAPHTHA

* BASF sold a cargo of naphtha to Trafigura at $931 a tonne

cif NWE, down from $948-$950 a tonne cif NWE on Monday.

* The naphtha crack was at around minus $4.90 a barrel late

on Tuesday, according to Reuters calculations, down from minus

$4.34 a barrel the previous evening.

(Reporting by Jessica Donati; editing by James Jukwey)

((jessica.donati@thomsonreuters.com)(Phone: 44)(0)(207 542

7220)(Reuters Messaging:

jessica.donati.reuters.com@reuters.net))

Keywords: MARKETS EUROPE/GASOLINE

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