NEW YORK, Aug 31 (Reuters) - U.S. cash crude grades firmed on Tuesday as a contango in the WTI futures market steepened and Brent shot to a bigger premium against the U.S. benchmark grade.
Mars sour traded for as little as $1.30 a barrel below West Texas Intermediate, up from -$1.75 on Monday. Light Louisiana Sweet traded for $3.90 a barrel above WTI, up from $3.80 above on Monday.
For other cash crude deals, see.
The moves came as front-month WTI weakened against second-month WTI and WTI weakened against October North Sea Brent.
On futures markets, October WTI fell $2.78 a barrel to $71.68 post settlement. October Brent fell $2.12 to $74.48 a barrel. U.S. crude futures ended August down 8.9 percent for the month.
The WTI-Brent spread widened to as much as $2.86 a barrel in favor of Brent, and the WTI calendar spread widened 59 cents to $1.83 in favor of November.
Alaska North Slope crude was last announced selling Thursday for $1.45 a barrel under WTI for October delivery, weaker by 10 cents from sales announced Tuesday.
California crude buyers cut their posted prices by $2.80 a barrel.
See for Reuters' generic refining margins
See for the WTI front/second month spread
See for front month WTI/Brent futures spread
See for Reuters' assessment of Dated Brent
See for Reuters assessed tanker rates
See for assessed domestic crude differentials
See for outright U.S. cash crude prices
See for a list of U.S. refinery outages
See for U.S. EIA inventory reports and forecasts
See for recent cash crude deals
(Reporting by Joshua Schneyer; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)
((Email: joshua.schneyer@thomsonreuters.com; +1 646-223-6051; Reuters Messaging: joshua.schneyer.reuters.com@reuters.net)) Keywords: MARKETS USCRUDE (For help: Click 'Contact Us' in your desk top, click here or call 1-800-738-8377 for Reuters Products and 1-888-463-3383 for Thomson products; For client training: training.americas@thomsonreuters.com ; +1 646-223-5546) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2010. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.
Mars sour traded for as little as $1.30 a barrel below West Texas Intermediate, up from -$1.75 on Monday. Light Louisiana Sweet traded for $3.90 a barrel above WTI, up from $3.80 above on Monday.
For other cash crude deals, see.
The moves came as front-month WTI weakened against second-month WTI and WTI weakened against October North Sea Brent.
On futures markets, October WTI fell $2.78 a barrel to $71.68 post settlement. October Brent fell $2.12 to $74.48 a barrel. U.S. crude futures ended August down 8.9 percent for the month.
The WTI-Brent spread widened to as much as $2.86 a barrel in favor of Brent, and the WTI calendar spread widened 59 cents to $1.83 in favor of November.
Alaska North Slope crude was last announced selling Thursday for $1.45 a barrel under WTI for October delivery, weaker by 10 cents from sales announced Tuesday.
California crude buyers cut their posted prices by $2.80 a barrel.
See for Reuters' generic refining margins
See for the WTI front/second month spread
See for front month WTI/Brent futures spread
See for Reuters' assessment of Dated Brent
See for Reuters assessed tanker rates
See for assessed domestic crude differentials
See for outright U.S. cash crude prices
See for a list of U.S. refinery outages
See for U.S. EIA inventory reports and forecasts
See for recent cash crude deals
(Reporting by Joshua Schneyer; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)
((Email: joshua.schneyer@thomsonreuters.com; +1 646-223-6051; Reuters Messaging: joshua.schneyer.reuters.com@reuters.net)) Keywords: MARKETS USCRUDE (For help: Click 'Contact Us' in your desk top, click here or call 1-800-738-8377 for Reuters Products and 1-888-463-3383 for Thomson products; For client training: training.americas@thomsonreuters.com ; +1 646-223-5546) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2010. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.