Jan 8 (Reuters) - Domestic crude grades largely weakened on Wednesday, dealers said, even as U.S. crude stocks fell last week.
WTI Midland, WTI at East Houston , known as MEH, and Mars eased 5 cents.
U.S. crude stocks fell last week, driving the Cushing, Oklahoma hub to a 10-year low, while fuel inventories surged, the Energy Information Administration $(EIA)$ said on Wednesday.
Crude inventories fell by 959,000 barrels to 414.6 million barrels in the week ended Jan. 3, the EIA said, compared with analysts' expectations in a Reuters poll for a 184,000-barrel draw.
Crude stocks at the Cushing, Oklahoma, delivery hub fell by 2.5 million barrels to 20 million barrels, their lowest since October 2014. They also declined by the most in a week since August 2023.
Stocks near or below 20 million barrels are considered near operational lows, according to traders.
In refining news, TotalEnergies' 238,000 barrel-per-day (bpd) Port Arthur, Texas refinery was operating normally on Wednesday, one day after a malfunction on the coker, people familiar with plant operations said.
U.S. oil refiners are expected to have about 595,000 bpd of capacity offline in the week ending Jan. 10, decreasing available refining capacity by 395,000 bpd, research company IIR Energy said on Wednesday.
* Light Louisiana Sweet for February delivery eased about 17 cents to a midpoint of a $2.13 premium and was seen bid and offered between a $2.00 and $2.25 a barrel premium to U.S. crude futures
* Mars Sour eased 5 cents to a midpoint of a 25-cent premium and was seen bid and offered between parity and 50-cent a barrel premium to U.S. crude futures
* WTI Midland weakened 5 cents to a midpoint of a 75-cent premium and was seen bid and offered between a 50-cent and $1.00 a barrel premium to U.S. crude futures
* West Texas Sour eased 35 cents to a midpoint of a 40-cent discount and was seen bid and offered between a 60-cent and 20-cent a barrel discount to U.S. crude futures
* WTI at East Houston , also known as MEH, traded between a 80-cent and $1.20 a barrel premium to U.S. crude futures
* ICE Brent March futures fell 89 cents to settle at $76.16 a barrel on Wednesday.
* WTI February crude futures fell 93 cents to settle at $73.32 a barrel on Wednesday .
* The Brent/WTI spread widened 3 cents to last trade at minus $3.51, after hitting a high of minus $3.38 and a low of minus $3.53.
(Reporting by Arathy Somasekhar in Houston; Editing by Nia Williams)
((Arathy.s@tr.com))
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