US gulf to receive flood of oil as glut in midwest grows

Houston

THE flood of oil inundating the US Midwest is about to cascade down to the Gulf Coast. Bulging inventories at tanks in Cushing, Oklahoma, the country's biggest storage hub and delivery point for US benchmark futures, has made oil there the cheapest in more than a year compared with crude in Louisiana.

Traders have more incentive to move crude to the Gulf as the price difference widens enough to cover the cost of transport. The Gulf Coast will be a more attractive destination as storage space in Cushing fills up and becomes more expensive, according to Genscape Inc.