US Cash Products -USG, Midwest gasoline up

NEW YORK, Aug 8 (Reuters) - Gasoline differentials rose on Friday in the U.S. Gulf Coast and the Midwest, adding to this weeks' gains following news of a big decline in national supplies of the motor fuel, traders said.

The latest advance leaves Gulf Coast gasoline up 7 cents per gallon since Monday amid a raft of outages at regional refineries, with the Midwest tracking the Gulf.

But in the New York Harbor, which had gained earlier in the week in lock-step with the Gulf, trading was quiet ahead of the weekend, with a small retreat in values, traders said.

"It's (gasoline) screaming in the Gulf but indifferent in NYH, which is an illiquid market. Everybody is still bearish in the Harbor so nothing is trading," said one gasoline trader.

National gasoline inventories dropped much more than expected last week, according to government data released Wednesday, as imports of the motor fuel declined. [EIA/S]

Citgo said it restarted several units at its 156,000 barrel per day refinery in Corpus Christi, Texas after they lost steam. The restart of the units, including a gasoline-making fluid catalytic cracker, may take to Aug. 13. [ID:nN07494798]

Sunoco said late on Thursday it has no significant turnaround work planned for the rest of 2008. [ID:nN07297768]

U.S. crude oil futures were down more than $3 as the dollar rallied on concerns about slowing European and Asian economies, feeding worries about lower oil demand. NYMEX gasoline and heating oil futures also declined. [O/N]

For a list of refinery outages, click [REF/US]   Continued...