NEW YORK: Cash crude differentials in the United States weakened on Monday as the transatlantic spread between Brent and US crude futures narrowed and crude futures gave up gains to settle lower.
Trading remained thin ahead of the expiration of the front-month US July crude contract this week as traders continued to wind down their purchases of July barrels, brokers and traders said.
Brent's premium to US crude <CL-LCO1=R> ended at $7.44 a barrel based on August contract settlements. The spread between those contracts ended on Friday at $7.86.
The spread on Monday traded from $7.39 to $8.07.
The spread between front-month Brent and US crude contracts has narrowed from its recent peak of $10.01. That was the intraday high reached on June 5.
Usually, the wider the arbitrage the more supportive for US cash crude differentials, while a narrower spread often pressures differentials. This holds especially true for sweet grades that are priced in line with global waterborne crudes such as Brent.
Brent crude touched a 10-week high and US crude reached a nine-month peak on Monday before prices fell back and settled lower.
Selling in US gasoline futures weighed on crude oil futures on both sides of the Atlantic, along with caution among traders ahead of Tuesday's start of the two-day meeting of the US Federal Reserve's policy committee.
Comments
Comments are closed.