Grades rose on Friday, dealers said, as traders and investors digested news that U.S. President Donald Trump expects his administration to impose tariffs related to oil and gas in the coming weeks.
“We’re going to put tariffs on oil and gas,” Trump told reporters in the White House’s Oval Office on Friday. “That’ll happen fairly soon, I think around the 18th of February.”
Asked if tariffs would be inclusive of Canadian crude , Trump said: “I’m probably going to reduce the tariff a little bit on that. We think we’re going to bring it down to 10% for the oil.”
In refining news, U.S. oil refiners are expected to have about 1.32 million barrels per day of (bpd) capacity offline in the week ending Jan. 31, decreasing available refining capacity by 121,000 bpd, research company IIR Energy said on Friday.
Offline capacity is expected to rise to 1.33 million bpd in the week ending Feb. 7 and fall to 992,000 bpd the subsequent week, IIR added.
* Light Louisiana Sweet (WTC-LLS) for March delivery rose 20 cents to a midpoint of a $3.05 premium and was seen bid and offered between a $2.95 and $3.15 a barrel premium to U.S. crude futures
* Mars Sour (WTC-MRS) rose 15 cents to a midpoint of a $1.45 premium and was seen bid and offered between a $1.35 and $1.55 a barrel premium to U.S. crude futures
* WTI Midland (WTC-WTM) was steady at a midpoint of a $1.10 premium and was seen bid and offered between a 90-cent and $1.30 a barrel premium to U.S. crude futures
* West Texas Sour (WTC-WTS) rose $1.20 to a midpoint of a 70-cent premium and was seen bid and offered between a 60-cent and 80-cent a barrel premium to U.S. crude futures
* WTI at East Houston (WTC-MEH), also known as MEH, traded between a $1.50 and $1.70 a barrel premium to U.S. crude futures
* ICE Brent March futures fell 11 cents to settle at $76.76 a barrel
* WTI March crude futures fell 20 cents to settle at $72.53 a barrel
* The Brent/WTI spread (WTCLc1-LCOc1) widened 3 cents to last trade at minus $4.17, after hitting a high of minus $3.94 and a low of minus $4.29
Source: Reuters