NEW YORK, Dec 16 (Reuters) - Differentials for LightLouisiana Sweet oil
LLS traded for as much as $5.25 a barrel over thefront-month U.S. oil futures contract, its highest spreadagainst WTI crude since Aug. 15, traders said. Differentialslater fell to end at $4.90 a barrel over benchmark futures.
Gulf Coast crude's discount to Brent, which hit a record atover $16 a barrel in late November, ended flat at around $8.09 abarrel on Monday, according to Reuters data.
A similar rally lifted Mars sour
Brent futures settled $1.64 higher at $110.47 a barrel asthe January contract expired because of Libyan supplydisruptions and an emerging positive economic outlook in Europe.
Negotiations between the Tripoli government and a groupseeking autonomy in eastern Libya failed and the group said onSunday it will continue to block export ports.
Cash crude differentials were also reacting to sales basedon a year-end tax accounting system, dubbed Last in First Out(LIFO), which assumes barrels last to join a company's inventorywere sold first, one trader said.
Gulf Coast cash crude differentials mostly ignored the startof Royal Dutch Shell's reversed Houston-to-Houmapipeline that will have capacity to carry up to 360,000 bpd fromTexas to Louisiana.
The U.S. oil futures contract rose 88 cents to settleat $97.48 a barrel. Its discount to international Brent
(Reporting by Selam Gebrekidan)
