Canadian heavy crude’s discount to West Texas Intermediate (WTI) widened on Monday, the first day of the new monthly trade cycle:
Western Canada Select (WCS) heavy blend crude for June delivery in Hardisty, Alberta, widened to last trade at $12.00 per barrel below WTI, according to NE2 Canada Inc, down 25 cents from the previous settle.
Light synthetic crude from the oil sands for June delivery traded at $1.00 per barrel below WTI, according to NE2, having previously settled at 50 cents a barrel below the benchmark.
One Calgary-based industry source said traders are keeping an eye on developments in northern Alberta’s oil sands region, where there are COVID-19 outbreaks at 12 oil sands plants.
Global oil prices rose more than 1% as Chinese economic figures and U.S. vaccination rates pointed to a strong rebound in demand in the world’s two largest economies.