The differential on Canadian heavy crude narrowed modestly on Thursday as the monthly trading window opened.
* Western Canada Select (WCS) heavy blend crude for September delivery in Hardisty, Alberta, traded at $12.40 per barrel below West Texas Intermediate (WTI) oil, according to Net Energy Exchange. On Wednesday, WCS for September delivery settled at $13 a barrel below WTI crude futures.
* The benchmark heavy discount remained in sight of the narrowest differential in three months, $9 below WTI, that was reached last month.
* The market is swinging largely within its established trading range, reaching its narrowest levels as Alberta crude storage slowly drains with rail movement increasing, a Calgary-based industry source said.
* Canadian Natural Resources Ltd , the country’s biggest oil and gas producer, is looking at taking on the Alberta provincial government’s contracts to move crude by rail, a senior company executive said.
* The Canadian crude market trade cycle runs from the first of each month until the day before pipeline nominations on the Enbridge Inc Mainline system take place.
* The government of Canada’s main crude-producing province, Alberta, eased oil production curtailments for September last week, setting the new limit at 3.76 million barrels per day (bpd), a 25,000-bpd increase from August.
* Light synthetic crude from the oil sands for September delivery traded at $2.50 a barrel over WTI, with the premium decreasing from Wednesday’s settle of $3.40 per barrel over the benchmark.
* Oil prices plummeted more than 7%, with the U.S. benchmark posting its worst day in more than four years, after President Donald Trump said he would impose additional tariffs on Chinese imports starting Sept. 1.
* TC Energy Corp’s long-delayed Keystone XL oil pipeline took a small step forward this week, after a U.S. court overturned an injunction that barred certain work on the project, the company said.