US Cash Products-ULSD up on renewed export interest

NEW YORK, May 15 (Reuters) - Ultra-low sulfur diesel rose on Thursday in the U.S. Gulf Coast, New York Harbor and parts of the Midwest on a resurgence of export demand to a high-flying European market, traders said.

The fuel traded about 2.5 cents firmer in the Gulf Coast. Harbor cash asking prices for ULSD were up about five cents a gallon, though bids were up two cents and confirmed trade earlier put the grade up one cent from Wednesday levels.

"Tight supply and exports are driving it up," one Harbor distillates trader said. But noting that bids lagged behind offers in the hub, he said: "Nobody is willing to pay up yet."

European traders say current estimates on diesel arbitrage bookings from the United States to Europe are 8 to 10 cargoes.

But some said that one or more cargoes may be delayed as a result of the unplanned outage of up to 10 days of a crude unit which started last week at Hovensa's 500,000 barrels-per-day St. Croix refinery in the Virgin Islands. [ID:nN13424422]

In refinery news, Valero said it restarted a 40,000 bpd crude distillation unit at its 340,000 bpd Corpus Christi, Texas, refinery after a two-week turnaround. [ID:nN15286525]

For refinery outages, click [REF/US]

On NYMEX, U.S. crude oil futures reversed course, falling as much as $3 per barrel, on a sharp sell-off in natural gas and volatility associated with the June contract options expiration. [O/N] [O/R]

U.S. GULF COAST <0#P-USG>