Dec 10 (Reuters) - U.S. crude grades broadly rose on Friday, dealers said, as U.S. crude's discount to Brent widened.
The WTI/Brent spread widened to minus-$3.67 per barrel, after settling at minus-$3.63 the day before. A wider spread typically makes U.S. crude-linked grades more attractive to foreign buyers, while the narrowing spread favors Brent-linked crudes.
U.S. oil rigs rose four to 471 this week, their highest since April 2020, energy services firm Baker Hughes Co said on Friday.
In the futures market, crude prices rose slightly and were on track for their biggest weekly gain since late August, with market sentiment buoyed by easing concerns over the Omicron coronavirus variant's impact on global economic growth and fuel demand.
In the refining sector, Royal Dutch Shell Plc was restarting on Friday the crude distillation unit $(CDU.AU)$ at its 230,811 barrel-per-day (bpd) Norco, Louisiana, refinery after completing repairs from Hurricane Ida, said sources familiar with plant operations.
* Light Louisiana Sweet for January delivery rose 85 cents to a midpoint of $2.25 and traded between $2.15 and $2.35 a barrel premium to U.S. crude futures .
* Mars Sour rose 50 cents to a midpoint of flat and traded between a 10-cent discount and a 10-cent premium to U.S. crude futures .
* WTI Midland rose 10 cents to a midpoint of 85 cents and traded between 75 cents and 95 cents premium to U.S. crude futures .
* West Texas Sour rose 95 cents to a midpoint of 35 cents and traded between 25 cents and 45 cents discount to U.S. crude futures .
* WTI at East Houston, also known as MEH, traded at $1.35 over WTI.
* ICE Brent February futures rose 73 cents to settle at $75.15 a barrel.
* WTI January crude futures rose $0.73 to settle at $71.67 a barrel.
* The Brent/WTI spread widened 4 cents to settle at minus-$3.67, after hitting a high of minus-$3.44 and a low of minus-$3.71.
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