U.S. SPOT CRUDE SPREADS HIGHER AS REFINERY RUNS IN GULF

U.S. SPOT CRUDE SPREADS HIGHER AS REFINERY RUNS IN GULF

According to foreign news on July 13, U.S. spot crude oil price spreads rose on Wednesday, as refiners in the United States increased capacity utilization to a more than four-year high.

U.S. Gulf refineries were operating at 98.1 percent of their capacity last week, the highest level since December 2018, data released by the EIA showed.

WTI Midland crude rose 15 cents to trade at a premium of $1.65 a barrel to WTI crude after trading in a $1.50-$1.80 range.

U.S. spot crude oil spreads were higher, and U.S. crude futures also rose, even though EIA data showed U.S. commercial crude inventories rose last week as the U.S. government released the Strategic Petroleum Reserve.

After releasing the reserves, the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve has slumped to its lowest level since 1985, data show.

Data released by the EIA also showed that crude oil inventories at Cushing in the United States had risen by 316,000 barrels.

Analysts said that demand for spot light crude oil in the United States and Canada remains strong at present, although the crude oil futures market is more volatile.

U.S. light sweet crude exports to West Africa rose to 20 percent of the total in June, compared with 8.2 percent before the escalation of the Russian-Ukrainian crisis, the data showed.

In Texas, ExxonMobil's Beaumont refinery, which has a processing capacity of 369,024 barrels a day, is still undergoing maintenance.

The median light sweet Louisiana sweet crude spread was up 15 cents at a premium of $2 a barrel, and traded at a discount of $1.9 to $2.1 a barrel to U.S. crude futures.

Mars high-sulfur crude was up 45 cents, at a median discount of $2.7 a barrel, and traded at a discount of $2.9-2.5 a barrel to U.S. crude futures.

Midland WTI crude was quoted 15 cents higher at a median premium of $1.65 a barrel, and traded at a premium of $1.5-1.8 a barrel over U.S. crude futures.

West Texas Intermediate (WTS) was also up 35 cents at a median premium of $2.15 a barrel, trading at a premium of $2-2.3 a barrel to U.S. crude futures.

The MEH spread is $1.8-2.2 per barrel premium

The most actively traded WTI crude oil futures contract for August rose 46 cents, or about 0.5%, to settle at $96.30 a barrel.

ICE's benchmark September Brent crude contract rose 8 cents, or about 0.1%, to settle at $99.57 a barrel.

The Brent/WTI crude spread narrowed 22 cents to settle at $5.74. It touched $5.66 and $6.4 earlier.