Brent printed $104.595/bbl while WTI settled at $91.716/bbl, leaving a spread of $12.879 — wider than the prior session's $12.77. That gap rewrites the delivered cost on all seven of SNSUC's re-export routes. ESPO, Dubai, Oman, Urals, Basrah Light, Bonny Light and Lula are all bought against Brent or Dubai; the refinery substitute benchmarks sit against WTI. The larger the wedge between those two anchors, the more the middle margin on a re-export cargo depends on vessel scheduling and the timing of the title transfer.

The Brent-over-WTI premium has now held above $10 for seven straight sessions, a sign that Atlantic-basin light surplus and Middle East sour-heaviness are happening at the same time. For an operator, a single Basrah Light cargo shifted by STS at Fujairah, bought on a Brent link and sold against WTI-linked product, swings $1 million of notional P&L for every $1 the spread moves on a 1-million-barrel cargo. The discharge port has to be locked as an STS anchorage before the letter of credit opens; changing it afterwards is barred.

In the afternoon session fuel oil reached ¥4,529/t and natural rubber ¥20,980/t, both tracking crude higher, while bitumen eased to ¥5,259/t, down ¥1.13. That split inside the heavy-oil chain goes straight into our daily spread sheet as a crack-margin signal.