Gulf Coast Oils Weaken Against WTI on Seaway Expansion

Gulf Coast oils on the spot market weakened to four-month lows as flows on the Seaway pipeline resumed at expanded rates to send as much as 400,000 barrels of crude a day to the Houston area.

The 500-mile (805-kilometer) line running from Cushing, Oklahoma, to Freeport, Texas, has restarted after shutting Jan. 2 to complete the final connections necessary to expand capacity from 150,000 barrels, as Enterprise Product Partners LP (EPD) and Enbridge Inc. (ENB) said in a statement.

Seaway increased flows to 280,000 barrels a day as of 7:30 a.m. New York time, said Hillary Stevenson, a Louisville, Kentucky-based data integrity analyst for Genscape Inc., which monitors electrical output at pumping stations.

Light Louisiana Sweet, the benchmark low-density, low- sulfur crude on the Gulf Coast, weakened 25 cents to a premium of $16.85 a barrel more than West Texas Intermediate in Cushing, according to data compiled by Bloomberg at 11:30 a.m. in New York. That’s LLS’s lowest premium to the U.S. benchmark since Sept. 6.

Heavy Louisiana Sweet oil’s premium to WTI shrank 50 cents to a $16.50. Mars Blend, a medium-gravity, high-sulfur crude from the Gulf of Mexico, weakened by $1 to a $12.25-a-barrel premium to WTI.

Other offshore Gulf crudes also weakened. Poseidon’s premium to WTI narrowed by $1 to $12.50 a barrel. Southern Green Canyon’s shrank 75 cents to a $12.65. Thunder Horse’s premium lost 70 cents to $15.15.

To contact the reporter on this story: Dan Murtaugh in Houston at dmurtaugh@bloomberg.net

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