Mars Sour firmed 80 cents to a midpoint of a 50-cent discount, its strongest since mid-November when the grade traded last traded at a premium to U.S. crude futures. It also marked the third straight day of gains. WTI at East Houston also firmed 25 cents. Fixtures data showed at least five new very large crude carriers chartered for February and March to head to Europe from the Gulf Coast and eight headed to Asia, according to data from Kpler.
On the supply side, a preliminary Reuters poll showed that
U.S. crude oil stockpiles likely rose by about 2.2 million last
week.
* Light Louisiana Sweet for March delivery was
unchanged at a midpoint of a $3.80 premium, trading between a
$3.60 and a $4 a barrel premium to U.S. crude futures .
* Mars Sour rose 80 cents to a midpoint of a 5-cent discount and traded between a 60 cent and a $1 a barrel discount to U.S. crude futures .
* WTI Midland rose 20 cents to a midpoint of a $2.25 premium and traded between a $2 and a $2.50 a barrel premium to U.S. crude futures .
* West Texas Sour rose 70 cents to a midpoint of a 25-cent discount and was bid and offered between flat and 50-cents a barrel discount to U.S. crude futures .
* WTI at East Houston, also known as MEH, traded between $2.25 and $2.75 over WTI.
* ICE Brent April futures rose $1.05 to settle at
$80.99 a barrel.
* WTI March crude futures rose 72 cents to settle at
$74.11 a barrel.
* The Brent/WTI spread widened 32 cents to
minus $6.52, after hitting a high of minus $6.10 and a low of
minus $6.53.
(Reporting by Arathy Somasekhar in Houston
Editing by Marguerita Choy)
