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Marathon Petroleum expects narrowed WTI-Brent spread to widen

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HOUSTON, April 30 | Tue Apr 30, 2013 11:12am EDT

HOUSTON, April 30 (Reuters) - Marathon Petroleum Corp expects the narrowed spread between U.S. crude benchmark West Texas Intermediate and London's Brent crude to widen again, though not necessarily to the $20-level seen earlier this year, a company executive told analysts on Tuesday.

That spread, which has dropped below $10 a barrel, has been a boon for refiners like Marathon with abundant access to U.S. inland and Canadian heavy crudes that trade at discounts to global crudes.

Mike Palmer, senior vice president of supply, distribution and planning, said crude stocks at the U.S. crude futures hub in Cushing, Oklahoma, remain high at about 51 million barrels, so it would "certainly not be a surprise" if the spread widened to $10 to $15 a barrel.

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