US Cash Crude-Mars slips amid tariff drama, ending six straight days of gains

Feb 4 (Reuters) - Physical crude grades pulled in different directions on Tuesday, dealers said, with Mars Sour falling 85 cents on the day amid tariff drama between Washington and Beijing.

Offshore grade Mars, favored by Chinese refiners, fell after U.S. President Donald Trump's tariffs on China took effect on Tuesday, followed by China's Finance Ministry saying it would impose a 10% levy on U.S. crude oil starting on Feb. 10.

Meanwhile, U.S. crude oil and gasoline stocks rose last week while distillate inventories fell, market sources said, citing American Petroleum Institute figures on Tuesday.

Crude stocks rose by 5.03 million barrels in the week ended Jan. 31, the sources said on condition of anonymity. Gasoline inventories rose by 5.43 million barrels, and distillate stocks fell by 6.98 million barrels, they said.

Norway's Equinor EQNR.OL halted all output on Tuesday from its Johan Sverdrup oilfield in the North Sea, western Europe's largest producing field, due to an outage in the offshore power system, a company spokesperson said.

Sverdrup pumped up to 755,000 barrels of oil per day in 2024. The company said last year that the field's output was expected to come off this peak level in the early part of 2025, without elaborating.

Light Louisiana Sweet WTC-LLS for March delivery fell 40 cents to a midpoint of a $3.00 premium and was seen bid and offered between a $2.90 and $3.10 a barrel premium to U.S. crude futures CLc1

Mars Sour WTC-MRS fell 85 cents to a midpoint of a $1.15 premium and was seen bid and offered between a $1.05 and $1.25 a barrel premium to U.S. crude futures CLc1

WTI Midland WTC-WTM gained 5 cents to a midpoint of a $1.10 premium and was seen bid and offered between a $1.00 and $1.20 a barrel premium to U.S. crude futures CLc1

West Texas Sour WTC-WTS rose 10 cents to a midpoint of a 85-cent premium and was seen bid and offered between a 60-cent and $1.10 a barrel premium to U.S. crude futures CLc1

WTI at East Houston WTC-MEH, also known as MEH, traded between a $1.50 and $1.70 a barrel premium to U.S. crude futures CLc1

ICE Brent April futures LCOc1 rose 24 cents to settle at $76.2 a barrel

WTI March crude CLc1 futures fell 46 cents to settle at $72.7 a barrel

The Brent/WTI spread WTCLc1-LCOc1 widened 23 cents to last trade at minus $3.80, after hitting a high of minus $3.68 and a low of minus $3.90