Dump truck being loaded in Alberta's oil sandsThe Canadian heavy oil differential narrowed against the West Texas Intermediate (WTI) benchmark on Monday, after a full restoration of the Syncrude oil sands site looked to drag into September:
* Western Canada Select (WCS) heavy blend crude for August delivery in Hardisty, Alberta, settled at $19 a barrel below the WTI benchmark crude price , according to Shorcan Energy brokers. That compared with Friday's settle of $19.50.
* The differential narrowed for the fourth straight session.
* Suncor Energy Inc said on Monday its Syncrude oil sands project in Western Canada would resume some production in July, sooner than expected, but not hit full capacity in September, following an outage last month that disrupted total output.
* The timeline was better than some expected last week after rumors of a September-October Syncrude return to full production, analysts at Tudor Pickering Holt & Co said.
* Light synthetic crude from the oil sands for August delivery settled at 75 cents over WTI, compared with Friday's settle of 80 cents below WTI.
(Reporting by Rod Nickel in Winnipeg, Manitoba; Editing by Peter Cooney)
