Marathon Petroleum sees wide US crude spreads

摘要

New York—Marathon Petroleum expects US crude differentials to remain wide throughout the first quarter of 2014, but said they could narrow as crude demand picks up in the second quarter ahead of the peak driving season, CEO Gary Heminger told attendees of the company’s analyst day in New York. “The big question is will shale production remain at a high [enough] level to sustain the Brent/LLS disconnect,” he said. The price of LLS, the Gulf Coast cash benchmark crude, has suffered from the influx of domestic light, sweet crudes from the Bakken and Eagle Ford shale plays. The lower domestic crude prices, particularly in Marathon’s key region of the Midwest, have made “differentials very attractive to the US refining industry,” Heminger said.