WTI Midland and WTI at East Houston, called MEH, weakened, while Light Louisiana Sweet and Southern Green Canyon firmed. WTI's discount to Brent widened as much as $6.19, the steepest discount in about 2 weeks, but still remained range bound. It touched a high of minus $5.89.
A wider discount, typically above minus $6, prompts more U.S. exports, as U.S.-linked grades become more attractive to foreign buyers.
Sour grades have strengthened in the last few days on strong export and refinery demand, a trader said, adding that domestic refinery run were rising pretty steadily since a winter storm caused outage early this year.
U.S. crude exports to China in March are headed for their highest in nearly two-and-half-years, spurred by a recovery in demand and competitive prices compared with Middle East supplies. At least 27 Very Large Crude Carriers were chartered to carry U.S. crude to countries in Europe and Asia in the next month, fixtures data on Kpler showed.
* Light Louisiana Sweet for April delivery rose
about 20 cents to a midpoint of a $3.10 premium and was bid and
offered between a $2.90 and a $3.30 a barrel premium to U.S.
crude futures .
* Mars Sour eased 15 cents to trade at a midpoint
of an 40-cent premium and was traded between a 20-cent and an
60-cent a barrel premium to U.S. crude futures .
* WTI Midland eased 10 cents to a midpoint of a
$1.45 premium and traded between a $1.25 and a $1.65 a barrel
premium to U.S. crude futures .
* West Texas Sour was unchanged at a midpoint of a
55-cent premium and was traded between a 40 cent and a 70-cent a
barrel premium to U.S. crude futures .
* WTI at East Houston, also known as MEH, traded between $1.50 and $1.90 over WTI.
* ICE Brent May futures rose $1.01 to settle at
$74.70 a barrel.
* WTI April crude futures rose 74 cents to settle at
$68.35 a barrel.
* The Brent/WTI spread widened 19 cents to
minus $6.14, after hitting a high of minus $5.89 and a low of
minus $6.19.
(Reporting by Arathy Somasekhar in Houston; Editing by David
Gregorio)
