Thursday July 2, 09:55 PM
US Cash Crude-Grades little changed as futures fall
NEW YORK, July 2 (Reuters) - U.S. cash crude grades were
little changed Thursday ahead of the July 4th holiday weekend,
as oil futures fell sharply on worse-than-expected U.S.
unemployment data.
Bonito Sour rose 15 cents a barrel to trade
for 50 cents
below West Texas Intermediate. Light Louisiana Sweet fell 5 cents to deal for $1.55 a barrel above WTI. Mars
sour was unchanged at $2.80 under WTI.
Swelling product stocks and a far bigger-than-expected rise
in U.S. unemployment -- 467,000 U.S. jobs cut in June,
according to data released Thursday -- drove crude futures
prices lower, by $2.67 a barrel to $66.64 in New York.
The spread between front-month and second-month delivery
futures widened 5 cents a barrel to $1.00 from Wednesday.
A wider spread typically strengthens cash grades. WTI
traded at a slim 12 cent a barrel premium to Europe's Brent oil. The premium narrowed from 50 cents a barrel on
Wednesday. A narrowing discount for WTI can boost U.S. grades
by making foreign crude less competitive.
Diversion of crude oil flow from the newly started Tahiti
platform into the Eugene Island cash crude pipeline stream in
the U.S. Gulf of Mexico weakened Eugene Island's differential,
sources said.
Eugene Island and Bonito Sour grades typically
have traded at or near par to each other. But on Thursday,
Eugene Island dealt for $1.25 below WTI, while Bonito was at
just 50 cents under. Tahiti crude is more acidic and heavier
than typical EIC crude, hence less valuable.
The Trans Alaska Pipeline System was still shipping far
less crude than average 2009 levels on Thursday following a
36-hour maintenance turnaround earlier this month, said a
spokeswoman for its operator, Alyeska. The line was shipping
551,000 barrels a day versus an average 2009 level of near
714,000 bpd.
The lower pipeline volumes were cited by analysts as a key
reason for a 3.7-million-barrel-drop in U.S. crude inventories
last week. Around 43 percent of that stock drop occurred in
PADD V, or the U.S. West Coast, which is highly dependent on
Alaskan crude.
Among other crude grades Heavy Louisiana Sweet
traded for 60 cents above WTI, up 20 cents from a previous
trade on June 29. West Texas Sour dealt for $1.95 under,
down 5 cents from Wednesday.
On the West Coast, Alaskan North Slope crude for
August sold 25 cents over WTI in the last disclosed deal on
June 25.
Buyers lowered posted prices for California crude by $2.65
a barrel.
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DATA LINKS:
Energy Speed Guide Crude Speed Guide
NYMEX WTI futures ICE Brent futures
US crude prices US crude differentials
Freight rates
NEWS LINKS:
NYMEX Market reports ICE market reports
US Cash crude deals Foreign crude deals
Dirty tanker news Dirty tanker fixtures
Weekly US oil data US crude outlook
US Refinery outages US Cash oil products
US products outlook
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(Reporting by Joshua Schneyer)
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