Bakken crude in Clearbrook, Minnesota, was heard traded Monday morning at its highest level in almost five months alongside the continued rise of light sweet crudes on turnarounds in Canada, sources said.

Specifically, Bakken was heard traded on an ex-Clearbrook basis flat to the NYMEX April light crude futures calendar-month average. This was the highest traded level heard since October 2, when it was heard done for November delivery, also flat to the WTI CMA.

Bakken sources in the US had expected strength, but were confused as to the pronounced increase in price. Bakken ex-Clearbrook was last heard traded Thursday for April at WTI CMA minus 60 cents/b.

Sources pointed to higher Syncrude prices in Canada, which themselves had been pulled up by upgrader outages, as an influence for stronger Bakken ex-Clearbrook prices. Upgraders typically take in various grades of crude, including Mixed Sweet crude in Canada, and "upgrade" the feedstock into synthetic crude production.

Canada's benchmark light crude, Syncrude Sweet premium, rose sharply last week following reports that Syncrude, a joint production venture among Canadian Oil Sands, Imperial and others, announced it would begin maintenance in late March that would last six-to-eight weeks. SSP was traded at WTI CMA plus $5/b Monday, its highest level since June 25, 2013.

Mixed Sweet was heard traded Monday at WTI CMA minus $1.50/b, up 35 cents from Friday. Last week, following news of the upgrader maintenance, the grade climbed as high as minus $1.45/b, its highest point since October 2015.

Bakken crude generally occupies and competes in the same supply pool as Mixed Sweet crude.

"Syncrude is up because of the turnarounds," a Clearbrook market participant said. "They were planned, so I'm surprised that the pricing has gone up this much."

Another Bakken market participant described the strength in the Clearbrook market as "crazy."

--Shameek Ghosh, shameek.ghosh@platts.com
--Allen Reed, allen.reed@platts.com
--Edited by Richard Rubin, richard.rubin@platts.com

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