Gulf Coast Sour Crude Price Differential Holds Positive Despite Market Turbulence

Last week’s near $10/bbl meltdown in headline crude oil prices did not undermine the positive price differential for Mars sour crude oil that is delivered from Gulf Coast offshore producing platforms via the Mars pipeline to Clovelly, LA, settling at the end of last week (April 4) at $0.43/bbl. As discussed in RBN’s TradeView report, this latest settle marks the 51st trading day (green dashed box in chart below) that Mars has been above the price of NYMEX-CME Domestic Sweet (DSW) — the commonly quoted prompt month futures contract price of crude oil, and is the longest stretch in the black for Mars since the COVID-driven market chaos of 2020. Mars is an important price marker for medium sour crude oil produced in the offshore Gulf and is often seen as a barometer to assess the supply availability and relative price of competing imported sour crudes such as those from Canada, Mexico, other parts of Latin America and the Middle East.