US Cash Crude-Coastal grade Mars Sour reaches six-week high as Russia sanctions bite

Jan 29 (Reuters) - Grades broadly increased on Wednesday, dealers said, with Mars Sour rising for the third straight session to a six-week high as Washington's latest sanctions on Russian crude pressured flows.

Russia's crude oil exports from its western ports in February are set to fall by 8% versus January's plan as Moscow increases refining, two traders said and Reuters calculations showed, after the latest U.S. sanctions squeezed crude exports.

Elsewhere, U.S. crude stocks rose last week as refinery utilization slipped, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) said, as winter storms sweeping the country hit fuelmakers' operations and boosted distillates demand.

Crude inventories rose by 3.5 million barrels to 415.1 million barrels in the week ended Jan. 24, the EIA said, compared with analysts' expectations in a Reuters poll for a 3.2 million-barrel rise.

U.S. oil refiners are expected to have about 1.25 million barrels per day (bpd) of capacity offline in the week ending Jan. 31, decreasing available refining capacity by 50,000 bpd, research company IIR Energy said on Wednesday.

Offline capacity is expected to rise to 1.33 million bpd in the week ending Feb. 7, IIR added.

Light Louisiana Sweet WTC-LLS for March delivery rose 10 cents to a midpoint of a $2.83 premium and was seen bid and offered between a $2.50 and $3.15 a barrel premium to U.S. crude futures CLc1

Mars Sour WTC-MRS rose 20 cents to a midpoint of a $1.20 premium and was seen bid and offered between a $1.10 and $1.30 a barrel premium to U.S. crude futures CLc1

WTI Midland WTC-WTM fell 5 cents to a midpoint of a $1 premium and was seen bid and offered between a 90-cent and $1.10 a barrel premium to U.S. crude futures CLc1

West Texas Sour WTC-WTS rose 5 cents to a midpoint of a 50-cent premium and was seen bid and offered between a 40-cent and 60-cent a barrel premium to U.S. crude futures CLc1

WTI at East Houston WTC-MEH, also known as MEH, traded between a $1.35 and $1.55 a barrel premium to U.S. crude futures CLc1

ICE Brent March futures LCOc1 fell 91 cents to settle at $76.58 a barrel

WTI March crude CLc1 futures fell $1.15 to settle at $72.62 a barrel

The Brent/WTI spread WTCLc1-LCOc1 widened 16 cents to last trade at minus $3.88, after hitting a high of minus $3.57 and a low of minus $3.96