On June 14, North Sea Brent price held steady as crude oil prices in the New York market fell 2 the previous day, which helped increased the WTI-Brent spread to a record-high of $21.80 according to Thomson Reuters. Market players also cited tight supplies of North Sea crude, with Brent being shipped to Asia, and a force majeure on Nigerian Bonny Light as factors supporting Brent prices, thereby driving up the arb. Despite the supply glut at Gashing, Oklahoma, analysts at Goldman Sachs believe that the gap was driven by "weakening of the U.S. Gulf Coast light-sweet crude oil prices relative to Brent crude, not a Cushing botdeneck." Analysts also predict that the WTI-Brent spread will narrow in the future and there is "limited" downside risk in the short term. Additionally, James Zhang from the Standard New York Securities Inc. said, "Despite the weakness on the flat price WTI, the term structure barely moved, which might suggest that the widening WTI-Brent spread has not necessarily be caused by concerns over Cushing, Oklahoma storage."
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