Western Canada Select (WCS) heavy blend crude for January delivery in Hardisty, Alberta, traded at $22 per barrel below WTI, according to NE2 Canada Inc, near the widest level since early December 2018. WCS settled at $21.50 below futures on Thursday.
Light synthetic crude from the oil sands traded $2.95 below WTI, steady compared with Thursday’s settle of $2.95 below.
Light synthetic crude came under pressure on news that Canada’s Syncrude oil sands facility had ramped up production after a disruption last week because of operational problems, sources told Reuters on Thursday.
Western Canadian oil stocks had climbed to a record-high 39 million barrels as of Nov. 29 due to a temporary outage of the Keystone oil pipeline and a strike by Canadian National Railway Co workers.
Benchmark oil prices rose on Friday to their highest in nearly three months as investors cheered progress in resolving the U.S.-China trade dispute and a decisive general election result in Britain.