Hurricane Ida blocks Hornus, ignites oil war! North American crude oil premiums soar making it the biggest winner in global "oil shortage".

With the increasing demand for dwindling accessible crude oil, the "spider web-like spread" of cracks in the global crude oil market is spreading to the Rockies and the Great Plains of the United States. The prices of crude oil grades from Texas and North Dakota to Alberta are skyrocketing as refiners compete for crude oil following weeks of disruption in oil transportation through the Strait of Hormuz to Asia and Europe. According to Modern Commodities prices, on Monday, Bakken crude traded at the Clearbrook hub in Minnesota had a premium of $18 per month compared to West Texas Intermediate crude. The day before the outbreak of the Middle East war on February 28, this grade was still discounted at $1.20 per barrel. Dennis Kisler, head of energy trading at BOK Financial Securities Inc., said, "This is all about U.S. exports. We are exporting a lot of crude oil, which is why WTI crude oil prices are staying high." In Canada, synthetic crude produced from oil sands asphalt processing has a premium of $19.90 over WTI crude, compared to about $1 one month ago. Mars crude oil extracted from the Gulf of Mexico rose to a premium of about $18 over WTI crude last week, before falling to around $17. Southern Green Canyon crude has maintained a premium of over $7 for five consecutive trading days. Traders say that crude oil from the U.S. and Canada is increasingly being attracted to coastal markets for export, tightening local spot supplies. The grade of crude oil that did not soar on Monday was Western Canadian Select, the local benchmark in Canada. According to Modern Commodities data, this grade of crude oil has widened from a discount of $14.65 per month to $16.25 compared to the average monthly price of WTI due to an increase in Venezuelan crude oil quantity.