Stocks release hits sweet grades

摘要

Crude prices rose sharply amid higher US refinery runs, large stockdraws and improved macroeconomic data. US light sweet benchmark WTI rose by $3.25/bl to $98.67/bl, while Atlantic basin marker North Sea Dated jumped by $6.12/bl to $117.65/bl. Imported crude availabilities have dried up in the US Gulf coast market, as sellers await clearer signals of buying inter- est when sweet crude from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) reaches the market. Around 1mn b/d of SPR crude is scheduled to load throughout August, which will severely dent demand for imported cargoes for at least a month.