WTI Midland eased 35 cents, while WTI at East Houston weakened 25 cents. Light Louisiana Sweet weakened 40 cents. Mars, however, gained 5 cents.
The U.S. 3:2:1 crack spread, a proxy measure for refining margins, weakened to as low as $29.07, its lowest in a month, worrying markets that refineries may buy and process lower amounts of crude ahead of the summer driving season. On the supply side, Russian crude also continued to find its way into the markets, with oil loading from Russia's western ports in April likely to rise to the highest since 2019.
Pakistan has also placed its first order for discounted Russian crude under a new deal which could cover 100,000 barrels per day (bpd). West Texas Intermediate crude's discount to Brent narrowed further to its smallest since late December. In refining news, the small coker at Motiva Enterprises 626,000 bpd Port Arthur, Texas refinery may be shut for two weeks after the unit's restart was stopped by a malfunction, two people familiar with plant operations said on Thursday.
* Light Louisiana Sweet for May delivery eased 40
cents and was traded between a $1.40 and a $1.80 a barrel
premium to U.S. crude futures
* Mars Sour gained 5 cents at a midpoint of a
95-cent discount and was traded between an 80-cent and a $1.10 a
barrel discount to U.S. crude futures
* WTI Midland fell 35 cents at a midpoint of a
50-cent premium and was traded between a 25-cent and a 75-cent a
barrel premium to U.S. crude futures
* WTI at East Houston , also known as MEH, traded
between a 60-cent and $1 a barrel premium to U.S. crude futures
* ICE Brent June futures fell $2.02 to settle at
$81.10 a barrel.
* WTI May crude futures fell $1.87 to settle at $77.29 a barrel
* The Brent/WTI spread weakened 19 cents to
minus $3.69, after hitting a high of minus $3.64 and a low of
minus $3.97.
(Reporting by Arathy Somasekhar in Houston; editing by Diane
Craft)
