Canadian heavy crude’s discount widened slightly versus the U.S. benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) on Tuesday, but remained relatively narrow following deep Canadian production cuts.
Little of Canada’s production that has been curtailed this year due to low prices has been restored, a Calgary-based trader said. WTI needs to trade over $40 to provide incentive for meaningful volumes to return, the trader said, predicting that this may happen by August.
Western Canada Select (WCS) heavy blend crude for July delivery in Hardisty, Alberta, traded at $9 per barrel below WTI, according to NE2 Canada Inc, slightly wider than Monday’s settle of $8.95 under.
Light synthetic crude from the oil sands was trading at $3 after Monday’s settle of $3.35 under.
Global oil prices were little changed, as traders said concerns about a resurgence in coronavirus cases offset recent commitments from major oil producers to curb production.