U.S. Cash Crude-Bakken grades jump to near 3-year high on Alberta wildfire shut-ins

May 9 (Reuters) - U.S. Bakken differentials rose on Mondayto the strongest in nearly three years as traders hurried to buythe crude on worries about supply constraints due to a ragingwildfire in Canada's Alberta province. The move follows Syncrude Canada cutting estimatedproduction volumes by some 35 percent in May after a wildfireforced the company to close its mines and upgrader operationsover the weekend, sources said. U.S. Bakken for June settled at 40 cents a barrel over WTIfrom 35 cents a barrel below WTI on Friday, according to ShorcanEnergy Brokers. That was the strongest since July 2013. Canadian crude prices climbed further on Monday as thewildfire entered a second week, with offline capacity estimatedat around 1 million barrels per day. Light, sweet barrels in the U.S. Gulf got a boost, withtraders expecting barrels to possibly move inland as a result ofthe production curbs. * Light Louisiana Sweet for June delivery rose20.5 cents to a midpoint of $2.13 and traded between $2.05 and$2.15 a barrel premium to U.S. crude futures. * Mars Sour rose 3 cents to a midpoint of -$3.22and traded between $3.20 and $3.25 a barrel discount to U.S.crude futures. * WTI Midland rose 7 cents to a midpoint of -$0.13and traded at a 10 cent a barrel discount to U.S. crude futures. * West Texas Sour rose 17.5 cents to a midpoint of-$1.1 and traded at a $1.20 a barrel discount to U.S. crudefutures. * WTI to East Houston traded at $1.75 a barrel over WTI. * ICE Brent July futures fell $1.74 to settle at$43.63 a barrel. * WTI June crude futures fell $1.22 cents to settleat $43.44 a barrel. * The Brent/WTI spread widened by 45 cents tosettle at 40 cents. (Reporting by Catherine Ngai; Editing by Richard Chang)