Crude oil futures were up at midday Monday, despite a stronger dollar.
The August Brent crude contract was up by $1.73 to $81.35/bbl and the NYMEX July West Texas Intermediate contract was $1.83 higher at $77.35/bbl just ahead of noon ET.
Market sources couldn't point to any news behind the stronger crude prices and pointed out that gasoline contract gains weren't keeping pace.
The NYMEX July RBOB contract was up by 2.97cts to $2.4123/gal, well under the more than 4.25ct increase needed to match gains in the WTI prompt-month contract.
In U.S. cash markets, gasoline prices were up by 2.25cts to 3cts/gal East of the Rockies with gains of 3-4.5cts/gal in the West. Los Angeles CARBOB continues to be available at a 10ct/gal discount to futures, implying a gross margin of just $13.40/bbl versus benchmark Alaska North Slope crude.
West Coast gasoline prices could come under further pressure when Chevron completes a spring maintenance turnaround at its 240,000 b/d refinery in Richmond, Calif.
Distillate futures more or less were matching gains in crude contracts. The NYMEX July ULSD contract was 5.14cts higher at $2.4031/gal with Gulf Coast spot barrels up more than 5cts to $2.335/gal. That put the Gulf Coast distillate crack at about $19/bbl versus sweet crude.
This content was created by Oil Price Information Service, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. OPIS is run independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.
--Reporting by Tom Kloza, tkloza@opisnet.com; Editing by Jeff Barber, jbarber@opisnet.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
06-10-24 1249ET
