Saudi Nov gasoline imports down 34 pct from Oct -trade

DUBAI, Nov 2 - Saudi Arabia, the world's top oil exporter, was expected to import around 17,038 barrels per day (bpd) of gasoline in November, down 34 percent from the previous month, traders said on Monday.

The kingdom shelved a plan to export some of its gasoline due to sluggish global demand and low international prices, traders said.

Gasoline imports were cut back further this month as domestic gasoline production rises with the full start-up of new refining capacity at Saudi Arabia's Rabigh Refining and Petrochemical <2380.SE> complex, trading sources said.

"Persistent start-up problems at Rabigh had thrown off their target to cut down gasoline imports the past few months," a Middle East-based trader said.

"But now the unit is operating with no issues, so their requirements are going to be much lower."

PetroRabigh, a $10.3-billion joint venture between Saudi Aramco and Japan's Sumitomo Chemical <4005.T>, started partial operation of the plant at the end of 2008.

The integrated facility can produce up to 60,000 bpd of high-octane gasoline that will be converted from fuel oil.

Gasoline imports into the kingdowm were expected to fall to about 15,000 bpd this year, energy consultancy PFC Energy had said earlier.

Demand for the motor fuel, which is heavily subsidised, hit a record high of nearly 400,000 bpd in April, up 6 percent from the same period last year, PFC Energy said in a report.

On Friday European barge prices for gasoline fell towards $100 a tonne as hopes for stronger exports to the United States were trumped by concerns over sluggish end-user demand.

"The economy in the United States may be out of a recession or coming out of one, but that still hasn't changed reality on the ground," a gasoline trader said.

"Consumers are still struggling and feeling the pain of the global economic slowdown of the past 18 months."

Consumer spending in the United States fell 0.5 percent in September, the first fall in five months, according to data from the Commerce Department released on Friday. [ID:nN30482062]

And consumer sentiment slipped in October as Americans continued to worry about their finances, the latest Reuters/University of Michigan consumer survey showed on Friday. [ID:nN303349339]