off-the-wire

U.S. Cash Crude-Grades mostly weaken as crude in storage jumps more than expected

Kitco Media
By Reuters
Published:
Updated:
Reuters
Feb 15 (Reuters) - U.S. physical crude oil grades broadly eased on Wednesday as domestic inventories jumped more than expected, signaling a fall in oil demand, dealers said. U.S. crude stockpiles jumped by 16.3 million barrels last week to 471.4 million barrels, their highest since June 2021, the U.S. Energy Information Administration said, much bigger than the 1.2 million-barrel increase analysts forecast in a Reuters poll. Inland grade WTI Midland crude weakened 15 cents to a midpoint of a $2.55 premium to U.S. crude futures. Mars Sour crude, however, firmed 25 cents to a midpoint of a $1.30 discount as the discount of U.S. crude futures to Brent widened. A wider spread typically makes domestic crude grades more attractive to international buyers, particularly coastal grades like Mars.


In oil processing, Exxon Mobil reported startup activities at its 369,024 barrel a day Beaumont, Texas refinery. Motiva Enterprises said it had a process incident at its 626,000 bpd refinery in Port Arthur, Texas, which resulted in excess flaring.


U.S. oil refiners are expected to have about 1,759,000 barrels per day (bpd) of capacity offline for the week ending Feb. 17, decreasing available refining capacity by 168,000 bpd, research company IIR Energy said.


Offline capacity is expected to rise to 1,796,000 bpd in the week ending Feb. 24, IIR added.
* Light Louisiana Sweet for March delivery fell 5 cents to a midpoint of a $3.55 premium and traded between a $3.45 and $3.65 a barrel discount to U.S. crude futures .



* Mars Sour rose 25 cents to a midpoint of a $1.30 discount and traded between a $1.40 and $1.20 a barrel discount to U.S. crude futures .


* WTI Midland fell 15 cents to a midpoint of a $2.55 premium and traded between a $2.45 and $2.65 a barrel premium to U.S. crude futures .


* West Texas Sour fell 10 cents to a midpoint of a 10-cent discount and traded between parity and a 20-cent a barrel discount to U.S. crude futures .


* WTI at East Houston, also known as MEH, traded from $2.65 to $2.85 over WTI.


* ICE Brent April futures fell 20 cents to settle at $85.38 a barrel.
* WTI March crude futures fell 47 cents to settle at $78.59 a barrel.
* The Brent/WTI spread widened 21 cents to settle at minus $6.55, after hitting a high of minus $6.22 and a low of minus $6.53. (Reporting by Laila Kearney; Editing by Lincoln Feast.)

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