Refiners Plunge as WTI-Brent Spread Narrows

[Stocks-to-Watch]

Refiner stocks fell drastically on Wednesday as the spread between the price of West Texas Intermediate and Brent crude narrowed.

Midwestern refiners like Western Refining (WNR) were hit the hardest, because they tend to source more of their crude at the WTI terminal in Cushing, Okla. Enbridge (ENB), said today that it will transport WTI to the Gulf Coast, which could ease the supply glut at Cushing, the FT reported.

Many refiners had benefited from the wide spread between Brent and WTI over the past year or so. But that spread has narrowed.

Brent was trading around $111.40 per barrel, falling 36 cents a barrel, while WTI rose $3.12 to $102.49.

Western Refining fell 10%, CVR Energy (CVI) was down 13%, and Tesoro (TSO) dropped 7%.



Original Article Source by Barrons.com