* European gasoil premium to Brent futures hit record high

on Thursday

* Saudi Arabia shuts Jizan refinery; Kuwait closes parts of

Al-Zour plant

* European gasoline premium to Brent not far from four-year

high

By Robert Harvey

LONDON, July 30 (Reuters) - European refiners continued to

reap bumper profits for producing fuels such as gasoline and

diesel this week, as a wave of attacks on oil refineries in the

Middle East and Russia further tightened supply and lifted

prices globally.

Soaring fuel prices ripple through the global economy, raising

costs for consumers and businesses. As attacks on refineries due

to the wars in Iran and Ukraine have taken out a growing number

of major plants that turn crude into usable fuel, fuel prices

are rising even though crude oil has fallen back to around $90 a

barrel, well below 2008's record of $147.

The premium that European low-sulphur gasoil futures command

over the crude oil price, which effectively captures the profit

margin refiners make from processing crude oil into diesel

, extended its all-time highs on Thursday to $74.66

per barrel.

Both the Middle East and Russia are major exporters of diesel, a

fuel used widely in industry, agriculture and transport.

Refinery profit margins for producing diesel jumped to all-time

highs in July.

"The market is signalling that refining capacity is now as

significant a problem as crude oil scarcity, if not a greater

one," Jeffrey Baird, founder of investment firm Merritt Point

Partners, said.

Saudi Arabia shut down its 400,000-barrel-per-day Jizan oil

refinery on July 27 following an attack by Yemen's Houthis. The

refinery exported more than 200,000 bpd of fuels over the past

three months, according to data from analytics firm Kpler, with

diesel and gasoil the main products.

Parts of Kuwait's 615,000 bpd Al-Zour refinery, another major

diesel producer, have also shut down due to a power cut.

At the same time, Ukraine's drone attacks have continued to hit

Russian refining capacity, forcing the Kremlin to impose

gasoline and diesel export bans.

Lukoil's refinery in Perm, which has a capacity of approximately

260,000 bpd, was the latest to shut down one of its crude

distillation units, on Thursday, after a drone attack.

Gasoline refining margins have also hit multi-year highs in

recent weeks. European benchmark Eurobob gasoline's premium to

Brent futures was at $42.21 per barrel on Wednesday, not far

from the four-year high of $44.94 touched on July 17, LSEG data

showed.

European jet fuel refining margins remained above $80 per

barrel on July 29 according to LSEG data, although were down

from their all-time high of almost $109 in March. Before 2026,

the margin had never reached $80, the data shows.

Similarly, U.S. refiners saw profit margins soar as fuel exports

remained robust and domestic demand remained firm.

In mid-July, U.S. gasoline crack spread reached $60 a barrel, a

level last reached in April 2020. The diesel crack spread hit

$93.44 a barrel this week, a record high.

Valero Energy ( VLO ), the second largest U.S. refiner by

capacity, on Thursday told investors it believes the industry

has structurally shifted to a higher mid-cycle refining margin

environment based on its projections of future demand and

planned capacity additions.