Grades typically tend to be more volatile during the roll period as traders use the window to net out exposures. Volatility during Tuesday's session eased on the final day of the roll trade. Inland grade WTI Midland fell 10 cents at a midpoint of a 50-cent premium, while West Texas Sour fell 20 cents at a midpoint of a 55-cent discount. Coastal grades were little changed during the session.
In oil futures, prices dropped 2% on Tuesday after two sessions of gains as deepening concerns of an economic slowdown and a stronger dollar outweighed hopes of higher Chinese demand and lower U.S. crude stocks. U.S. crude oil inventories fell by about 6.1 million barrels last week, according to market sources citing American Petroleum Institute figures on Tuesday. U.S. government data on inventories is due on Wednesday. In refinery news, Motiva Enterprises plans to restart the small coker at its 626,000 barrel-per-day (bpd) Port Arthur, Texas, refinery on Wednesday, people familiar with plant operations said on Tuesday.
The 54,000-bpd coker had nearly completed restarting on April 19 when a malfunction shut it down, the sources said. Motiva wanted to restart the coker over the weekend but pushed it to Wednesday.
* Light Louisiana Sweet for May delivery was
unchanged at a midpoint of a $1.35 premium and was seen bid and
offered between $1.25 and $1.45 a barrel premium to U.S. crude
futures ?
* Mars Sour was unchanged at a midpoint of a $1.55
discount and was seen bid and offered between a $1.65 and $1.45
a barrel discount to U.S. crude futures ?
* WTI Midland fell 10 cents at a midpoint of a
50-cent premium and was seen bid and offered between a 40-cent
and 60-cent a barrel premium to U.S. crude futures ?
* West Texas Sour fell 20 cents at a midpoint of a
55-cent discount and was seen bid and offered between a 70-cent
and 40-cent a barrel discount to U.S. crude futures ?
* WTI at East Houston , also known as MEH, traded
between a 75-cent and 95-cent a barrel premium to U.S. crude
futures ?
* ICE Brent June futures fell $1.96 to settle at
$80.77 a barrel.
* WTI June crude futures fell $1.69 to settle at $77.07
a barrel.
* The Brent/WTI spread narrowed, after hitting
a high of minus $3.58 and a low of minus $4.01.
(Reporting by Stephanie Kelly in New York; Editing by Lisa
Shumaker)
