Sept 2 (Reuters) - U.S. coastal crude grade Mars Sour strengthened on Thursday to trade at a premium to U.S. crude futures for the first time in nearly four months, as oil and gas companies strained to get offshore operations back up and running after Hurricane Ida.
Mars Sour for October delivery firmed 45 cents to a midpoint of a 15-cent premium to U.S. crude futures , its highest since May 19, while Light Louisiana Sweet rose 25 cents to a midpoint of a $2.15 premium, its highest since early June.
In the Gulf of Mexico, the volume of oil shut in rose to 1.7 million barrels per day of offshore oil output, up 240,000 barrels from Wednesday, the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) said.
A total of 177 platforms remained evacuated, against 249 a day earlier, the regulator added.
Just a few companies, including BHP and Murphy Oil
, took first steps for restarting offshore production.
Area ports were returning to normal but some pipeline and oil processing facilities remained shut by power outages, lack of supplies or storm damage.
More than two dozen oil tankers scheduled to discharge imported crude for Louisiana refineries or load oil for exports anticipate delays, according to tanker tracking data and shipping sources.
Seven oil refiners could be out for up to four weeks due to a lack of power and water. The storm knocked out plants in southeast Louisiana operated by Marathon Petroleum , Phillips 66 , Valero Energy and PBF Energy
.
The U.S. Energy Secretary on Thursday authorized the country's emergency oil reserve to loan 1.5 million barrels of crude to an Exxon Mobil refinery in Louisiana to relieve fuel disruptions.
Oil prices rose more than $1 a barrel on Thursday on optimism about global economic growth and after U.S. crude inventories fell more than anticipated.
* Light Louisiana Sweet for October delivery rose 25 cents to a midpoint of $2.15 premium and traded between a $2 and a $2.30 a barrel premium to U.S. crude futures .
* Mars Sour rose 45 cents to a midpoint of a 15-cent premium and traded between flat and a 30-cent a barrel premium to U.S. crude futures .
* WTI Midland fell 10 cents to a midpoint of a 35-cent premium and traded between a 20-cent and a 50-cent a barrel premium to U.S. crude futures .
* West Texas Sour rose 5 cents to flat and was bid and offered between a 15-cent discount and a 15-cent a barrel premium to U.S. crude futures .
* WTI at East Houston, also known as MEH, traded between 60 cents and $1 over WTI.
* ICE Brent November futures rose $1.44 to settle at $73.03 a barrel.
* WTI October crude futures rose $1.40 to settle at $69.99 a barrel.
* The Brent/WTI spread widened 3 cents to settle at minus $3.30, after hitting a high of minus $3.03 and a low of minus $3.37.
(Reporting by Arathy S Nair; editing by Jonathan Oatis and David Gregorio)
((arathys.nair@thomsonreuters.com; +1 646 223 8780 (Extn 2726); Twitter: ))
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