WTI at East Houston, also known as MEH, and Mars eased 30 cents each.
Inland grade WTI Midland weakened 25 cents, its lowest since late January, while West Texas Sour eased to $1.75, its lowest since mid-January.
U.S. crude's discount to Brent narrowed on Monday to as much as minus $5.59 a barrel, the most since the end of January. A narrower discount makes U.S.-linked grades less attractive to foreign buyers.
The easing discounts come after U.S. crude oil exports rose to a record high of 5.6 million barrels per day (bpd) last week, drawing barrels away from the Cushing storage hub and to the coast.
Inventories at Cushing fell 1.4 million to 41.9 million barrels, traders said, citing Genscape data.
Strong exports in March will tighten inventories with Cushing expected to stay flat month on month, before rising in April, research firm Energy Aspects forecast.
* Light Louisiana Sweet for April delivery fell 20 cents to a midpoint of a $2.80 premium and traded between a $2.60 and a $3 a barrel premium to U.S. crude futures .
* Mars Sour fell 30 cents to a midpoint of an 80-cents discount and traded between a 60-cent and a $1 a barrel discount to U.S. crude futures .
* WTI Midland fell 25 cents to a midpoint of a $1.50 premium and traded between a $1.25 and a $1.75 a barrel premium to U.S. crude futures .
* West Texas Sour dropped $1.00 to a midpoint of a $1.75 discount and traded between a $2 and $1.50 a barrel discount to U.S. crude futures .
* WTI at East Houston, also known as MEH, traded between $1.50 and $1.80 over WTI.
* ICE Brent May futures rose 35 cents to settle at
$86.18 a barrel.
* WTI April crude futures rose 78 cents to settle at
$80.46 a barrel.
* The Brent/WTI spread widened 39 cents to
minus $5.65, after hitting a high of minus $5.59 and a low of
minus $6.03.
(Reporting by Arathy Somasekhar in Houston
Editing by Matthew Lewis)
