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HOUSTON, July 17 (Reuters) - Grades were mixed on Friday, dealers said, as the domestic rig count rose while refinery demand also increased.

The U.S. oil rigs rose by seven to 452 this week, highest since May 2025, Baker Hughes said. The number of active rigs acts as an early indicator of future output.

U.S. oil refiners are expected to have about 200,000 barrels per day of capacity offline for the week ending July 17, increasing available refining capacity by 70,000 bpd, research company IIR Energy said.

Offline capacity is expected to decrease to 89,000 bpd in the week ending July 24 and further to 66,000 bpd in the subsequent week, IIR added.

The U.S. and Iran stepped up attacks across the Gulf, with shipping threatened by a potential Red Sea closure on top of the restricted traffic through the Strait of Hormuz.

• Light Louisiana Sweet for August delivery rose $1 to a midpoint of a $2.50 premium and was seen bid and offered between a $2.40 and $2.60 a barrel premium to U.S. crude futures CLc1 ​

• Mars Sour fell 25 cents to a midpoint of a 75-cent premium and was seen bid and offered between a 75-cent and 75-cent a barrel premium to U.S. crude futures

• WTI Midland fell 15 cents to a midpoint of a 5-cent premium and was seen bid and offered between a discount of 5 cents​​ and a 15-cent a barrel premium to U.S. crude futures ​

• West Texas Sour rose 95 cents to a midpoint of a $2.05 discount and was seen bid and offered between a $2.15 and $1.95 a barrel discount to U.S. crude futures ​

• WTI at East Houston, also known as MEH, traded between a 20-cent and 40-cent a barrel premium to U.S. crude futures

• ICE Brent September futures LCOc1 rose $3.87 to settle at $88.10 a barrel

• WTI August crude CLc1 futures rose $3.54 to settle at $82.49 a barrel

• The Brent/WTI spread widened 39 cents to last trade at minus $6.34, after hitting a high of minus $5.65 and a low of minus $6.43