Feb. 9 (Bloomberg) -- New York gasoline weakened as European stockpiles rose to the highest level in 10 months and cargoes of the fuel head to the U.S.

Gasoline inventories in Amsterdam-Rotterdam-Antwerp gained for a fifth week to the most since April 7, according to PJK, a researcher in the Netherlands. Shipments of the fuel to the U.S. from Europe are set to reach a three-week high, a Bloomberg News survey showed.

The premium for conventional, 87-octane gasoline in New York Harbor, fell 0.25 cent to 1.63 cents a gallon versus futures traded on the New York Mercantile Exchange at 1:59 p.m., according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Prompt delivery rose 2.56 cents to $3.0196 a gallon.

Traders and oil companies booked or were likely to hire 26 ships in the period to Feb. 23, according to the median estimate in a survey yesterday of six shipbrokers, two traders and one owner who specialize in transporting the auto fuel.

The ships, known as medium-range tankers, would be able to carry about 8.18 million barrels, or 584,000 barrels a day, in the next two weeks. That’s 74 percent of the 790,000 barrels the U.S. imported daily in the past year, according to the Energy Department.

The discount for ultra-low-sulfur diesel versus heating oil futures in the Gulf Coast narrowed 1.25 cents to 3.5 cents a gallon.

Valero Energy Corp. has begun shutting units for planned maintenance at the St. Charles refinery in Louisiana, Bill Day, a spokesman for the company at the headquarters in San Antonio, said in an e-mail.

--Editors: Charlotte Porter, Richard Stubbe

To contact the reporter on this story: Paul Burkhardt in New York at pburkhardt@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Dan Stets at dstets@bloomberg.net.