Mars and Light Louisiana Sweet were, however, unchanged.
U.S. energy firms this week cut the number of oil rigs for a second week in a row. The rig count, an early indicator of future output, dropped two to 590 this week, Baker Hughes data showed. That come as government data on Wednesday showed U.S. crude oil stockpiles fell more than expected last week. However, U.S. crude's narrow discount to Brent is likely to hurt exports. The discount hovered around minus $4.43 a barrel, below the minus $6 level that typically helps exports as U.S. crude-lined grades become cheaper for foreign buyers and economic to ship across the world. In refining news, Exxon Mobil Corp completed the startup of a new $2 billion crude distillation unit (CDU) at its Beaumont, Texas, refinery, sources said on Wednesday. The unit is expected to run more light crude from the Permian basin.
* Light Louisiana Sweet for May was flat at a midpoint of a $2 premium and was seen bid and offered between a $1.80 and $2.20 a barrel premium to U.S. crude futures .
* Mars Sour was flat at a midpoint of a $1.20
discount and traded between a $1.00 and $1.40 a barrel discount
to U.S. crude futures .
* WTI Midland eased 15 cents to a midpoint of a
75-cent premium and traded between a 50-cent and a $1.00 a
barrel premium to U.S. crude futures .
* West Texas Sour eased 40 cents to a midpoint of
a 75-cent discount and was seen bid and offered between a
50-cent and $1 a barrel discount to U.S. crude futures . ?
* WTI at East Houston , also known as MEH, traded
between a 80-cent and a $1 a barrel premium to U.S. crude
futures .
* ICE Brent June futures rose 13 cents to settle at
$85.12 a barrel on Tuesday?.
* WTI May crude futures rose 9 cents to settle at $80.70 a barrel on Tuesday?.
* The Brent/WTI spread widened, hitting a high of minus $4.28 and a low of minus $4.47. (Reporting by Arathy Somasekhar in Houston; Editing by David Gregorio)
@ArathySom;))