European gasoline prices fell as much as $17 a metric ton as Total SA sold barges of the motor fuel. Gasoil also declined on London’s ICE Futures Europe exchange, following crude futures lower. Light Products Eurobob gasoline for loading in Amsterdam-Rotterdam-Antwerp traded from $946 to $961 a metric ton, according to a survey of traders and brokers monitoring the Argus Bulletin Board. Yesterday’s transactions were completed from $963 to $993. Total and Mabanaft BV were sellers, while Gunvor Group Ltd., Statoil ASA and Vitol Group bought. Barges of Eurobob, to which ethanol is added to make the finished grade, typically trade in lots of 1,000 or 2,000 tons. Gasoline’s crack, or premium to Brent crude, grew for a fifth day to $7.59 a barrel versus $7.22 a barrel the previous session, according to data from PVM Oil Associates Ltd., a crude and refined products broker in London. That’s the most in more than two weeks. U.K. motorists are set to miss out on this month’s slide in the cost of gasoline as retailers hold off cutting prices to boost profit margins, according to the Retail Motor Industry Federation’s petrol division, the U.K.’s independent gas station operators’ industry group. Bulk gasoline fell 13 percent in early August while U.K. pump rates, including tax, rose 1.1 percent in the first two weeks of the month, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. “Retailers, having been bludgeoned by very low margins and given the opportunity to reserve some margin to satisfy their banks and satisfy their shareholders, will take the opportunity to do that,” Brian Madderson, chairman of the Retail Motor Industry Federation’s petrol division, said in a phone interview from London. Naphtha’s discount to Brent shrank for the third day to $3.22 a barrel, compared with $3.71 yesterday, according to PVM. That’s the smallest gap since May 11, when the spread was $2.66. Middle Distillates Gasoil for September dropped $7.25, or 0.8 percent, to $904.25 a ton as of 12:09 p.m. London time on the ICE exchange, while the October contract was at $900.50. Brent for October slipped 0.3 percent to $106.66 a barrel. The heating fuel’s crack, a measure of refining profitability, grew to $14.49 a barrel, versus $14.30 a barrel at 4:30 p.m. yesterday, according to ICE data. Refinery Preem AB, Sweden’s largest refiner, will halt its Gothenburg refinery at the start of September for maintenance, Thomas Oegren, a company spokesman, said today by telephone from Stockholm. The work will last most of September, he said. The refinery can process 125,000 barrels a day of crude oil. To contact the reporter on this story: Lananh Nguyen in London at lnguyen35@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Stephen Voss at sev@bloomberg.net

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