[Twilight]

Dante might chime in, but as far as I can see, the gap has not really got bigger, because the price of a barrel of oil has got bigger too. The gap was only a dollar or two several years ago, but then oil was only $30 or $40. And we saw a $5-6 gap when US storage was getting low last summer, and that was at $70-80 oil. It does vary with events, but its absolute size at this point seems to be proportional to where the prices are.

[mefistofeles]

What's with the huge spread between Brent and WTI? At $9/barrel the spread is quite significant in absolute terms and at these prices relative terms,representing a 20%+ premium.

[misterno]

I think it is an indication of production increase or decrease in Texas

[GoghGoner]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('misterno', 'I') think it is an indication of production increase or decrease in Texas

[AirlinePilot]

WTI spread is due to the full up inventory at Cushing. Thats where they get the WTI number from. Its just recently reached full up inventory.

Lots of big players storing huge quantities at 36-40$/bbl. Hmmm, I wonder why?

[yesplease]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('AirlinePilot', 'L')ots of big players storing huge quantities at 36-40$/bbl. Hmmm, I wonder why?

[Sixstrings]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', '[')img]http://www.zerohedge.com/sites/default/files/images/user5/imageroot/von%20havenstein/Brent%202.23_0.jpg[/img]
A $10 move in a week is just what the doctor ordered to destroy the last trace of surreality in the whole "economic recovery" story. At this rate we will take out all time high crude prices by mid March. As we have been saying since December, a rapid move in oil will undo years of carefully planned propaganda and money printing.

Yet the weakness that "nobody could have possibly predicted" is just as we had forecast: global and US weakness in late February/March, market swoons in March/April (as per DeMark's repeat appearance), Fed releases early indications of QE3 in May. In the meantime, we also get a war as a bonus to boost the US military-defense industrial complex. Pretty much a rerun of the first great depression to the dot.
http://www.zerohedge.com/article/brent-passes-110

[Plantagenet]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Sixstrings', '
')If the price of oil gets out of control, the whole quantitative easing house of cards will crumble.

[vision-master]

Are you a manic hand washer?

[Sixstrings]

US crude crossed the $100 mark.. brent now at $111

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'U')S Crude Crosses $100 Mark; Brent Tops $110
http://www.cnbc.com/id/41726474

[Plantagenet]

Its hilarious to see Geithner out today claiming that the US economy is now STRONGER then it was before the 2008 recession, and so better able to handle high oil prices. Do Geithner and Obama ever actually look at the foreclosure rate, deficit, unemployment rate, trade deficit, value of the dollar or any of the other data or does they just make up new BS each and every day?

[eXpat]

Back to 2008!

[TimH]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('eXpat', 'B')ack to 2008!

[Ferretlover]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Plantagenet', 'o')r do they just make up new BS each and every day?

[gnm]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Plantagenet', 'O')bama and the democrats have just wasted two valuable years and blown through 3 TRILLION dollars of new debt to accomplish....nothing.

[Keith_McClary]

Brent-WTI spread
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'F')or most of the last decade, there was very little difference between the price of West Texas Intermediate traded in Cushing, Oklahoma and that for North Sea Brent in Europe. But a $10-$15 spread between the two developed at the end of January and has remained ever since.
...
For example, Chevron is currently offering $123.25 for a barrel of Louisiana light sweet, $17 more than it is willing to pay for Oklahoma sweet. A year ago the differential was only $3. That gap means that U.S. refiners on the coast are paying a huge premium to buy imported oil, when there are plenty of inland domestic producers who'd love to sell it to them at a significantly lower price.
...
The Seaway pipeline has the capacity to transport 430,000 barrel a day between the Gulf and Cushing. But currently, the pipeline is carrying oil from the Gulf, where it is so expensive, to Cushing, where it is cheap.

[Pops]

This is what I've been saying for months.

Who can blame Conoco for wanting to keep the price down in OK? It's a free market, they own the pipe and refine in Ponca City, OK so why would they want to reduce the surplus and increase their price of stock?

But never fear, within a couple years the Kestone pipe that increased the glut at Cushing will continue to the gulf and the Enbridge "Northern Gateway" will go to the Pacific and all will be well with the free market.

Or... the US/Canadian governments will block construction of the pipes, sticking their toe in the "oil nationalization" waters. That would make things interesting...

[Daniel_Plainview]

The Brent/WTI spread is now near an all-time record of $19

Brent = 117.44/bbl
WTI = 98.92/bbl

117.44 - 98.92 = $18.52 divergence (spread)

[Daniel_Plainview]

2 days ago the Brent/WTIC spread reached a record high of $19, and today, for a while anyway, the spread reached $20 ($119 vs. $99) ... a new record high disparity.

[dolanbaker]

Over $21 right now...