US crude prices firm at Gulf Coast as takeaway capacity tightens

By Arathy Somasekhar

HOUSTON (Reuters) - Record crude output from the top U.S. oilfield and busy crude pipelines to export hubs are boosting the price of the country's flagship crude at the Gulf Coast, analysts and traders said.

West Texas Intermediate crude at Magellan's East Houston terminal (MEH), on average this month traded at a 45-cent premium per barrel to its price at Midland, Texas, the price point closest to the actual production of WTI.

That compares with an average of 21-cent premium in 2023 and marked the highest average price since 2020.

WTI at MEH is expected to trade at an average 75 cents a barrel premium to Midland this year, Dylan White, an analyst at energy consultancy Wood Mackenzie.

Crude production in the Permian basin in West Texas and eastern New Mexico is expected to hit a record 6 million barrels per day (bpd) in December, while exports climbed to average a record 4.2 million bpd, with the U.S. Gulf Coast accounting for about 97% of the total.

Pipelines between the Permian and the U.S. Gulf Coast were 80% full in December, the highest level in four years, according to data from Wood Mackenzie. Utilization on lines to Corpus Christi in South Texas, was higher, pushing flows to Houston.

Permian-to-Houston pipeline utilization climbed to 73% in December from 52% in July, Wood Mackenzie said.

"We expect incremental barrels out of the Permian largely moving to Houston as limited room for growth remains on Corpus Christi-bound lines," Wood Mackenzie's White said.

Enterprise Product Partners is converting its Seminole crude pipeline to Houston to natural gas liquids (NGL), reducing available capacity. The company declined to provide an update on the pipeline, which had been able to carry up to 210,000 bpd of crude oil.

(Reporting by Arathy Somasekhar in Houston; Editing by Marguerita Choy)