Physically traded domestic crude grades broadly fell on Friday with Light Louisiana Sweet bucking the wider downward trend, dealers said, while the Brent-WTI spread also widened.
Light Louisiana Sweet, broadly considered the U.S. Gulf Coast benchmark, rose on Friday as the Brent/WTI spread widened to a $5.19 discount per barrel, the widest closing discount since May 6.
A wider spread between the global benchmark and WTI typically encourages more transatlantic demand.
On the refining side demand has weakened after TotalEnergies’ 238,000-barrels-per-day Port Arthur refinery in Texas shut a crude unit following a leak.
Further weighing on refinery demand, U.S. oil refiners are expected to have about 164,000 barrels per day (bpd) of capacity offline in the week ending June 28, decreasing available refining capacity by 11,000 bpd, research company IIR Energy said on Friday.
Offline capacity is expected to fall to 92,000 bpd in the week ending July 5, and rise to 256,000 in the subsequent week, IIR added.
Light Louisiana Sweet for August delivery gained 17.5 cents at a midpoint of a $3.00 premium and was seen bid and offered between a $2.90- and $3.10-a-barrel premium to U.S. crude futures.
Mars Sour fell 15 cents at a midpoint of an 85-cent premium and was seen bid and offered between a 75-cent- and 95-cent-a-barrel premium to U.S. crude futures.
WTI Midland fell 5 cents at a midpoint of a 95-cent premium and was seen bid and offered between an 85-cent- and $1.05-a-barrel premium to U.S. crude futures.
West Texas Sour fell 35.5 cents at a midpoint of a 22-cent premium and was seen bid and offered between a discount of 5 cents and a 50-cent-a-barrel premium to U.S. crude futures.
WTI at East Houston, also known as MEH, traded between a $1.25 and $1.45 a barrel premium to U.S. crude futures CLc1
ICE Brent August futures LCOc1 rose 2 cents to settle at $86.41 a barrel on Friday.
WTI August crude CLc1 futures fell 20 cents to settle at $81.54 a barrel on Friday.
The Brent/WTI spread WTCLc1-LCOc1 widened last to minus $4.65, after hitting a high of minus $4.51 and a low of minus $5.19.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Georgina McCartney in Houston; Editing by Leslie Adler)