The discount on Canadian heavy crude widened versus U.S. benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude on Friday to round off a week of volatile trading:
* Western Canada Select (WCS) heavy blend crude for November delivery in Hardisty, Alberta, traded at $16.35 per barrel below WTI, according to Net Energy Exchange. On Thursday November WCS settled at $15.95 a barrel below WTI and earlier in the week settled at $16.50 a barrel below the benchmark, its widest discount since late May.
* Light synthetic crude from the oil sands weakened to trade at 90 cents per barrel over WTI, having settled at $1.00 per barrel over the benchmark the previous day.
* Data from energy information provider Genscape on Thursday showed western Canadian crude inventories rose in September due to lower pipeline flows and decreased crude-by-rail loadings.
* The government of Alberta, Canada's main crude-producing province, has set crude production curtailments for November and December at 3.80 million barrels per day and 3.81 million barrels per day, respectively. Alberta introduced curtailment at the start of 2019 to tackle pipeline congestion and support crude prices.
* Many market participants are expecting a deal in coming weeks to be announced between the Alberta government and oil companies, allowing producers to increase output as long as incremental production is shipped by rail.
* U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude rose $1.15 to $54.70 a barrel after Iranian media said a state-owned oil tanker was attacked in the Red Sea near Saudi Arabia, while optimism surrounding the U.S.-China trade war lifted sentiment.
(Reporting by Nia Williams in Calgary Editing by Sonya Hepinstall)
Heavy discount widens after volatile week
The discount on Canadian heavy crude widened versus U.S. benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude on Friday to round off a week of volatile trading:
* Western Canada Select (WCS) heavy blend crude for November delivery in Hardisty, Alberta, traded at $16.35 per barrel below WTI, according to Net Energy Exchange. On Thursday November WCS settled at $15.95 a barrel below WTI and earlier in the week settled at $16.50 a barrel below the benchmark, its widest discount since late May.
* Light synthetic crude from the oil sands weakened to trade at 90 cents per barrel over WTI, having settled at $1.00 per barrel over the benchmark the previous day.
* Data from energy information provider Genscape on Thursday showed western Canadian crude inventories rose in September due to lower pipeline flows and decreased crude-by-rail loadings.
* The government of Alberta, Canada's main crude-producing province, has set crude production curtailments for November and December at 3.80 million barrels per day and 3.81 million barrels per day, respectively. Alberta introduced curtailment at the start of 2019 to tackle pipeline congestion and support crude prices.
* Many market participants are expecting a deal in coming weeks to be announced between the Alberta government and oil companies, allowing producers to increase output as long as incremental production is shipped by rail.
* U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude rose $1.15 to $54.70 a barrel after Iranian media said a state-owned oil tanker was attacked in the Red Sea near Saudi Arabia, while optimism surrounding the U.S.-China trade war lifted sentiment.
(Reporting by Nia Williams in Calgary Editing by Sonya Hepinstall)