(EnergyAsia, November 17 2011, Thursday) — The Brent-WTI spread fell to US$9.29 a barrel, its lowest level since March 8, as the US crude surged 3.2% to a five-and-a-half-month high of $102.59 a barrel.

Traders attributed WTI’s climb to an unwinding of long Brent positions, which had taken the spread to a high of US$28 in recent months, as well as to report of that the Seaway pipeline would be reversed to ease a pile-up of crude flowing into the US.

Operators Enbridge and Enterprise Products Partners said the reversal would allow 150,000 b/d of crude to move out of the congested Cushing, Oklahoma hub to the Gulf Coast refining region by the second quarter of next year and to 400,000 by early 2013.

WTI has been under pressure all year as crude has been building up in the Oklahoma area due to weak domestic demand and lack of an alternative market, causing it to sell at a steep discount to Brent. The North Sea crude’s premium had reached a peak of US$27.90 a barrel in mid-October.

Archer Financials analysts Steve Platt and Mike McElroy observed “good buying interest developing in WTI on the unwinding of Brent vs WTI spreads and on active selling of the cracks.”

They said “the overbought condition of Brent to WTI along with the ongoing concerns that the debt crisis in Europe is spreading to other economies in that area appeared to touch off the active selling in Brent and unwinding of the Brent WTI spreads.

“Particularly critical to this argument is the stronger position of the US economy relative to Europe and also the expanding output from Libyan fields that will begin to enter European crude streams.”