Heavy discount remains narrow before turnarounds as new monthly trading cycle begins

Canadian heavy crude’s discount traded in a narrow range versus the U.S. benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude on Monday, reflecting anticipation of some oil production going offline for maintenance soon, on the first day of the month’s trading cycle.

Western Canada Select (WCS) heavy blend crude for April delivery in Hardisty, Alberta, was trading at $13.50 per barrel below WTI, according to NE2 Canada Inc, slightly narrower than Friday’s settle in thin trading of $13.55 under.

WCS prices are typically stronger in spring due to turnarounds at some production sites, a Calgary industry source said.

Indigenous protests related to opposition to the Coastal GasLink pipeline have blocked rail lines since early February, but a tentative deal was reached on Sunday between Canadian authorities and an indigenous group.

Alberta’s provincial government said on Thursday that it expected a heavy oil price differential of $19.10 per barrel in its 2020-21 fiscal year.

Light synthetic crude from the oil sands was trading at $1.50 over WTI, slightly narrower than Friday’s settle of $1.55 over.

Global oil prices rose over 4% as hopes of a deeper cut in output by OPEC and stimulus from central banks countered worries about damage to demand from the coronavirus outbreak.