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The monthly average U.S.-dollar price of West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil moved lower in April, retreating by $2.86 (2.7 percent) to $103.33 per barrel. That drop was concurrent with a slight strengthening of the dollar and a surge in crude stocks during April, but occurred despite the lagged impacts of an increase in consumption of 466,000 barrels per day (BPD) -- to 18.7 million BPD -- during February.
The price spread between Brent crude (the predominant grade used in Europe) and WTI widened in March (April data was not yet available when this was written), to $19.26 per barrel -- the largest gap since October 2011. Brent and WTI prices had been essentially identical until the end of 2010.
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