The Platts Dubai-LOOP Sour spread has widened to a little more than $3/b so far in February, suggesting an improved and opened arbitrage for US Gulf Coast medium sours grades to head to Asia.
The 10-day moving average spread between second-month Platts Dubai and front-month Platts LOOP Sour was $3.17/b Monday, with LOOP Sour the lower-valued of the two crudes. That compares with a January average spread of about $2.06/b and a Q4 2017 spread of $1.57/b.