The global oil market could see tightness in the second half of 2023, which would push oil prices higher, said Fatih Birol, executive director of the International Energy Agency. U.S. Crude inventories , however, rose by 597,000 barrels in the last week to 470.5 million, mainly due to a congressionally mandated release of oil from the U.S. emergency reserve and lower exports at the start of the month. Analysts had on average expected a 600,000-barrel drop. Exports of crude oil fell 2.5 million barrels per day (bpd), the largest drop on record, to 2.7 million bpd last week.
Exports tend to pick up when WTI trades at a more than $6 discount to Brent. It was trading at a $4.16 discount on Wednesday. On the refining side, Refinery crude runs fell by 30,000 barrels per day in the last week, while utilization rates fell for the second straight week to 89.3%.
* Light Louisiana Sweet for May delivery rose 5
cents to a midpoint of a $1.90 premium and was seen bid and
offered between a $1.70 and a $2.10 a barrel premium to U.S.
crude futures
* Mars Sour gained 10 cents at a midpoint of a
$1.05 discount and was seen bid and offered between a $1.25 and
an 85-cent a barrel discount to U.S. crude futures
* WTI Midland rose 5 cents to a midpoint of a
60-cent premium and was seen bid and offered between a 40-cent
and an 80-cent a barrel premium to U.S. crude futures
* West Texas Sour fell 90 cents to a midpoint of
a $1.60 discount and was seen bid and offered between a $1.80
and a $1.40 a barrel discount to U.S. crude futures
* WTI at East Houston , also known as MEH, traded
between a 60-cent and a 90 -cent a barrel premium to U.S. crude
futures
* ICE Brent June futures rose $1.72 to settle at
$87.33 a barrel on Tuesday?.
* WTI May crude futures rose $1.73 to settle at
$83.26 a barrel on Tuesday?.
* The Brent/WTI spread narrowed to minus $4.16,
after hitting a high of minus $4.11 and a low of minus $4.34.
(Reporting by Arathy Somasekhar, editing by Deepa Babington)
