Canadian heavy crude’s discount to West Texas Intermediate (WTI) widened on Wednesday:
Western Canada Select (WCS) heavy blend crude for May delivery in Hardisty, Alberta, widened to settle at $11.50 per barrel below WTI, according to NE2 Canada Inc. On Tuesday it settled at $10.80 per barrel below the benchmark.
That was the widest discount so far this month, but WCS remains relatively strong by historic levels.
Light synthetic crude from the oil sands for May delivery settled at $1.30 per barrel below WTI, according to NE2. On Tuesday synthetic settled at $1.00 a barrel below WTI.
A busy maintenance season is underway in Canada’s oil sands, but some work is scheduled to be wrapped up by next month, which will increase supply.
Global oil prices climbed, with WTI settling at $63.15, after a report from the International Energy Agency and U.S. inventory data boosted optimism about returning demand after the coronavirus lockdowns last year crushed fuel consumption.