US Cash Crude- Grades ease as WTI/Brent spread narrows to below minus $4
Aug 12 (Reuters) -Physically traded domestic U.S. crudes largely eased on Monday, dealers said, as the spread between U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude and Brent narrowed to below minus $4.
WTI Midland WTC-WTM and WTI at East Houston WTC-MEH, also known as MEH, eased 15 cents each. Mars weakened 40 cents.
The WTI/Brent spread WTCLc1-LCOc1 eased 11 cents to trade at $3.93. A spread narrower than minus $4 discourages foreign buying of US crude.
U.S. crude oil inventories likely fell by 2 million barrels last week, a preliminary Reuters poll showed on Monday.
OPEC on Monday cut its forecast for global oil demand growth in 2024 citing softer expectations for China, a reduction that highlights the dilemma faced by the wider OPEC+ group in raising production from October.
Saudi crude oil exports to China are set to fall in September to about 43 million barrels, several trade sources said on Monday, citing monthly allocations for term buyers.
Meanwhile, refiners which usually import the light sweet Libyan crude could look to replace Libya's Sharara barrels with U.S. WTI Midland among other grades, trade sources suggested, after Libya's National Oil Corporation declared force majeure on the Sharara field from Aug. 7.
In refining, U.S. oil refiners are expected to have about 308,000 barrels per day (bpd) of capacity offline in the week ending Aug. 16, increasing available refining capacity by 354,000 bpd, research company IIR Energy said on Monday.
* Light Louisiana Sweet WTC-LLS for September delivery gained 5 cents at a midpoint of a $2.00 premium and was seen bid and offered between a $1.80 and $2.20 a barrel premium to U.S. crude futures CLc1
* Mars Sour WTC-MRS fell 40 cents at a midpoint of a $1.2 discount and was seen bid and offered between a $1.40 and $1.00 a barrel discount to U.S. crude futures CLc1
* WTI Midland WTC-WTM fell 15 cents at a midpoint of a 55-cent premium and was seen bid and offered between a 35-cent and 75-cent a barrel premium to U.S. crude futures CLc1
* West Texas Sour WTC-WTS was unchanged at a midpoint of a 5-cent discount and was seen bid and offered between a discount of 30 cents and 20-cent a barrel premium to U.S. crude futures CLc1
* WTI at East Houston WTC-MEH, also known as MEH, traded between a 75-cent and $1.15 a barrel premium to U.S. crude futures CLc1
* ICE Brent October futures LCOc1 rose $2.64 to settle at $82.3 a barrel on Monday.
* WTI September crude CLc1 futures rose $3.22 to settle at $80.06 a barrel on Monday.
* The Brent/WTI spread WTCLc1-LCOc1 narrowed 11 cents to minus $3.94, after hitting a high of minus $3.80 and a low of minus $4.03.
Reporting by Arathy Somasekhar in Houston; Editing by David Gregorio
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