Bulging US stockpiles blow out WTI-Brent spread

摘要

As US crude output growth continues apace despite lower prices, inventories are filling fast and pushing benchmark WTI’s discount to North Sea Brent into double digits as a result. And the relative strength of global benchmark Brent, bolstered in February by supply disruptions in Libya and Iraq, has helped to widen the spread. WTI sank to nearly a $13/bbl discount to Brent in late February, although the spread in early March had narrowed in to around $9/bbl. Domestic WTI is feeling the pressure from US crude inventories that have piled up to a record 468 mb amid strong production growth and a 1 mb/d reduction in refinery throughput since the turn of the year (see OECD Stocks). Further pressure came in February from a shortterm surge in imports, likely purchased when WTI briefly traded at a premium to Brent. In the first week of March, US crude stocks rose by 4.5 mb.