Canadian heavy crude’s discount to West Texas Intermediate (WTI) was little changed on Thursday, inching narrower as the end of the monthly trade window neared:
Western Canada Select (WCS) heavy blend crude for May delivery in Hardisty, Alberta, narrowed marginally to settle at $11.45 per barrel below WTI, according to NE2 Canada Inc. On Wednesday it settled at $11.50 per barrel below the benchmark.
WCS remains relatively strong by historic levels.
Light synthetic crude from the oil sands for May delivery settled at $1.25 per barrel below WTI, according to NE2. On Wednesday synthetic settled at $1.30 a barrel below WTI.
The last day of the Canadian crude trading “window”, which runs from the first of the month until the day before pipeline nominations are due, is on Friday.
Global oil prices edged up to four-week highs, with WTI settling at $63.46, on positive U.S. economic data and higher demand forecasts from the International Energy Agency and OPEC as countries start to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.