LONDON, Feb 18 (Reuters) - Gasoline barge premiums in

northwest Europe came off slightly on Monday in a quiet market,

with many traders away from their desks for industry event

International Petroleum Week.

Flat prices on both sides of the Atlantic have been moving

steadily upwards since Hess's announcement that it will close

its Port Reading, New Jersey refinery just ahead of the spring

maintenance season.

However, some analysts believe the move is overdone, with

ample supplies of European gasoline available to fill any gaps

that might arise on the U.S. East Coast.

In addition, Canada's Come By Chance refinery in

Newfoundland has now resumed full production following a power

outage on Feb. 4. This suggests the gasoline

market may be due for a correction.

On the naphtha side, prices were supported by a declaration

of force majeure from the operator of Libya's Ras Lanuf

refinery. Operations are still being affected by

last month's strike and power outage.

Elsewhere, Sonatrach will complete its upgrade work at

Algeria's largest refinery, Skikda, early next month. The 335,000 barrel-per-day refinery has been

undergoing maintenance and improvement work since early July

last year.

GASOLINE

* Two barges of benchmark Eurobob traded at $1,102-$1,104 a

tonne fob ARA, up from Friday's window trades at $1,099-$1,100 a

tonne. Gunvor sold both the barges to Trafigura.

* The March swap was trading at around $1,106 a tonne at the

close, so the physical deals were done at $2-$4 a tonne

discounts. This is down on Friday's $1-$2 a tonne premiums.

* Some 6,000 tonnes traded ahead of the window at

$1,104-$1,105 a tonne fob ARA. Chevron, BP and Cargill were on

the sell side, whilst Trafigura and Gunvor were buyers.

* No barges of premium unleaded gasoline traded as there

were no bids. An offer came at $1,132 a tonne fob ARA, up from

$1,119-$1,128 a tonne on Friday.

* At 1649 GMT, Brent crude oil futures were down 52

cents at $117.14 a barrel.

* Eurobob's crack to dated Brent was at around $13.44

a barrel, down from around $13.90 a barrel on Friday, which was

the highest level since mid-October.

* March U.S. RBOB gasoline futures were up 0.56

percent at $3.1520 a gallon.

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

at $36.93 a barrel, from $35.56 a barrel around the same time on

Friday.

NAPHTHA

* There were no trades in the window as many traders were

away from their desks for IP Week functions. A bid came at

$1,026 a tonne cif NWE. This was up from Friday's trade at

$1,008 a tonne.

* The naphtha crack swap for February was trading at around

minus $4.54 a barrel late on Monday.

(Reporting by Claire Milhench. Editing by Jane Merriman)

(claire.milhench@thomsonreuters.com)(+44)(0)(207 542 3571)(Reuters Messaging: claire.milhench.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net)

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