U.S. Gulf Oils Gain as Brent-WTI Margin Widest in a Year

U.S. Gulf Coast oils strengthened as the discount for West Texas Intermediate versus Brent widened to the largest gap in almost a year.

The spread between the benchmarks widened 33 cents to $22.47 a barrel at 1:56 p.m. in New York, the biggest differential since Oct. 20. When Brent gains against WTI it typically strengthens the value of U.S. grades that compete with foreign oils priced using the European benchmark.

Light Louisiana Sweet increased $1.20 to $21.20 over WTI at 2:01 p.m. in New York, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. That’s the largest premium for the grade since April 9. Heavy Louisiana Sweet’s premium gained 75 cents to $21 a barrel.

Poseidon’s premium rose 5 cents to $14.30. Mars Blend increased by 80 cents to $14.80 a barrel over WTI, and Southern Green Canyon advanced 75 cents to $13.

The premium for Thunder Horse, a sour crude with lower sulfur content than Mars, Poseidon and Southern Green Canyon, widened 50 cents to $18.50 above WTI.

Bakken oil’s premium was steady at $2.50 a barrel.

The discount to WTI for Western Canada Select, a heavy oil blend from Alberta, was unchanged at $14.75. Syncrude’s premium to the U.S. benchmark was steady at $5.75 a barrel.

To contact the reporter on this story: Aaron Clark in New York at aclark27@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Dan Stets at dstets@bloomberg.net