US Cash Crude- Grades rise at WTI/Brent spread trades at widest point in 21 months

HOUSTON, Jan 29 (Reuters) - Grades rose on Thursday, dealers said, as the WTI/Brent spread widened and some U.S. output remained offline after a winter storm that ravaged output over the weekend.

The spread between WTI and Brent supported prices, trading as wide as minus $5.50 during the session, its widest point since April 2024. A spread larger than minus $4 typically encourages export demand, driving prices higher.

U.S. crude production was down by around 500,000 barrels per day on Thursday after an Arctic blast hit the world's largest crude producing country, according to data from consultancy Energy Aspects.

The outages, due to so-called "freeze-offs" were down from an estimated 2 million bpd over the weekend and marked a 100,000 bpd recovery from Wednesday.

• Light Louisiana Sweet for March delivery rose 15 cents to a midpoint of a $1.78 premium and was seen bid and offered between a $1.70 and $1.85 a barrel premium to U.S. crude futures CLc1 ​

• Mars Sour rose 30 cents to a midpoint of a $1 discount and was seen bid and offered between a $1.10 and 90-cent a barrel discount to U.S. crude futures CLc1 ​

• WTI Midland rose 5 cents to a midpoint of a 90-cent premium and was seen bid and offered between a 80-cent and $1 a barrel premium to U.S. crude futures CLc1 ​

• West Texas Sour rose 5 cents to at a midpoint of a $2.10 discount and was seen bid and offered between a $2.20 and $2.00 a barrel discount to U.S. crude futures CLc1 ​

• WTI at East Houston , also known as MEH, traded between a $1.10 and $1.30 a barrel premium to U.S. crude futures CLc1 ​

• ICE Brent March futures LCOc1 rose $2.31 to settle at $70.71 a barrel on Thursday​.

• WTI March crude CLc1 futures rose $2.21 to settle at $65.42 a barrel on Thursday​.

• The Brent/WTI spread widened 18 cents to last trade at minus $5.37, after hitting a high of minus $5.13 and a low of minus $5.50