March 1 (Reuters) - Mars Sour crude oil on Monday
strengthened from more than 10-month lows as demand picked up
with more refineries on the U.S. Gulf Coast restarting
operations that were hampered by severe winter weather last
month, traders said.
    Mars Sour crude firmed 45 cents to trade at par with U.S.
crude futures. 
    Valero Energy Corp  VLO.N  was restarting its 180,000
barrel-per-day (bpd) Memphis, Tennessee, refinery, while
Lyondell Basell Industries  LYB.N  began restarting the large
crude distillation unit (CDU) and the gasoline-producing fluidic
catalytic cracker (FCC) at its 263,776-bpd Houston refinery on
Monday, sources said.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL2N2KZ2FD urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL2N2KZ2BF   
    All but three units are operating on specification at the
largest U.S. refinery, Motiva Enterprises'  MOTIV.UL 
607,000-bpd Port Arthur, Texas, plant, according to sources.
 urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL2N2KZ1PP
    Over the weekend, Exxon Mobil Corp  XOM.N  also restarted
the gasoline-producing and diesel-producing units at its
369,024-bpd oil refinery in Beaumont, Texas, sources said.
However, restarting Exxon's 560,500-bpd Baytown, Texas, refinery
is expected to take another two weeks.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL2N2KZ07D  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL2N2KY0OE
    Citgo Petroleum Corp  PDVSAC.UL  shut the coker at its
167,500-bpd Corpus Christi, Texas, refinery on Sunday because
heater tubes ruptured during a restart attempt, sources said.
The 44,000-bpd coker was shut along with the rest of the
refinery as freezing temperatures caused a power outage on Feb.
15.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL2N2KZ0GM
    Stockpiles at Cushing, delivery point for U.S. crude
futures, rose about 58,000 barrels in the week to Feb. 26 from
the previous week, traders said, citing a Genscape report.
    Oil company executives at CERAWeek by IHS Markit were
adamant on Monday that crude demand will rise over the coming
decade and that the fossil fuel will remain a crucial part of
the energy mix even as renewables draw increasing attention.
 urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL2N2KZ28J
    While overall energy demand is likely to recover quickly
after the pandemic subsides, crude supply is going to be slower
to resume, Hess Corp  HES.N  CEO John Hess said. U.S. shale
producers, in particular, operate conservatively to avoid a
supply spike. 
    
    * Light Louisiana Sweet  WTC-LLS  for April delivery rose 5
cents to a midpoint of a $2.45 premium and traded between a
$2.10 and a $2.80 a barrel premium to U.S. crude futures  CLc1 .
       
    * Mars Sour  WTC-MRS  rose 45 cents to around breakeven
prices and traded between a 10-cent discount and a 10-cent a
barrel premium to U.S. crude futures  CLc1 .        
    * WTI Midland  WTC-WTM  was unchanged at a midpoint of a
75-cent premium, trading between 55-cent and 95-cent a barrel
premium to U.S. crude futures  CLc1 .        
    * West Texas Sour  WTC-WTS  was unchanged at a midpoint of
$1 discount, trading between a $1.50 and a 50-cent a barrel
discount to U.S. crude futures  CLc1 .
    * WTI at East Houston, also known as MEH, traded between
$1.30 and $1.50 over WTI.     
    * ICE Brent May  LCOc1  futures fell 73 cents to settle at
$63.69 a barrel.
    * WTI April crude  CLc1  futures fell 86 cents to settle at
$60.64 a barrel.
    * The Brent/WTI spread  WTCLc1-LCOc1  narrowed 8.0 cents to
settle at minus $3.27, after hitting a high of minus $3.06 and a
low of minus $3.44.   

 (Reporting by Arathy S Nair in Bengaluru; Editing by Sonya
Hepinstall)
 ((arathys.nair@thomsonreuters.com; +1 646 223 8780 (Extn 2726);
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ArathySom;))