US Cash Crude-Mars Sour jumps to 4-month high on strong US refinery demand

HOUSTON, Nov 19 (Reuters) - Grades were mixed on Wednesday, dealers said, but Mars Sour, a grade favored by U.S. refiners, jumped to its highest since early July as U.S. refineries returned from a heavy maintenance turnaround season.

Refinery crude runs USOICR=ECI rose by 259,000 bpd in the week ended November 14, the Energy Information Administration said, while utilization rates USOIRU=ECI increased by 0.6 percentage points in the week to 90%.

U.S. crude inventories fell by 3.4 million barrels to 424.2 million barrels the EIA said, compared with analysts' expectations in a Reuters poll for a 603,000-barrel draw.

U.S. oil refiners are expected to have about 551,000 barrels per day of capacity offline in the week ending November 21, increasing available refining capacity by 239,000 bpd, research company IIR Energy said.

Offline capacity is expected to fall to 187,000 bpd in the week ending November 28, IIR said.

• Light Louisiana Sweet for December delivery rose 42 cents to a midpoint of a $1.75 premium and was seen bid and offered between a $1.60 and $1.90 a barrel premium to U.S. crude futures CLc1 ​

• Mars Sour rose $1 at a midpoint of a 60-cent premium and was seen bid and offered between a 50-cent and 70-cent a barrel premium to U.S. crude futures CLc1 ​

• WTI Midland fell 5 cents to a midpoint of a 55-cent premium and was seen bid and offered between a 45-cent and 65-cent a barrel premium to U.S. crude futures CLc1 ​

• West Texas Sour fell 90 cents to a midpoint of a $2.30 discount and was seen bid and offered between a $3.05 and $1.55 a barrel discount to U.S. crude futures CLc1 ​

• WTI at East Houston , also known as MEH, traded between a 70-cent and 90-cent a barrel premium to U.S. crude futures CLc1 ​

• ICE Brent January futures LCOc1 fell $1.38 to settle at $63.51 a barrel

• WTI December crude CLc1 futures fell $1.3 to settle at $59.44 a barrel

• The Brent/WTI spread widened 3 cents to to last trade at minus $4.25, after hitting a high of minus $4.15 and a low of minus $4.29