NEW YORK, Feb 14 (Reuters) – U.S. Gulf Coast cash crude
grades inched slightly lower in a relatively thin market on
Friday with a regional refinery said to shut its crude unit for
longer than expected.
Exxon Mobil will likely shut a crude unit and a
coker at its 502,500 barrels-per-day refinery in Baton Rouge,
Louisiana, early next week, sources told Reuters. The shutdown
at the fourth largest refinery in the nation could last for up
to eight weeks.
Mars sour for March delivery began trading at +$2.70
a barrel over the U.S. front month oil futures contract
but later fell to $2.40 a barrel over futures, ending the day
about 35 cents lower than Thursday levels.
March Light Louisiana Sweet traded between $5.75 and
$5.40 a barrel over benchmark futures, about 20 cents lower on
the day.
West Texas Intermediate crude for March delivery at
Midland, Texas, fell about a quarter to $5.25 a barrel under
futures.
West Texas Sour traded at $4.30 and $4.25 under
futures, about 10 cents lower than Wednesday.
Brent crude settled at $109.08, up 0.52 percent
while U.S. crude closed at $100.30, almost unchanged from
Thursday’s settlement of $100.35.
Brent’s premium to U.S. crude widened slightly
to $9.50 a barrel.
(Reporting by Selam Gebrekidan and Josephine Mason; Editing by
Bernard Orr)
