Western Canada Select (WCS) heavy blend crude for June delivery in Hardisty, Alberta, last traded at $12.80 per barrel below WTI, according to NE2 Canada Inc, flat to Thursday’s discount.
Friday is the last day of the monthly Canadian crude trading window, which lasts from the first of each month until the day before nominations to ship crude on pipelines are due.
Light synthetic crude from the oil sands for June delivery traded at $1.10 per barrel below WTI, according to NE2, the discount grew from Thursday’s settle of $1.00 per barrel below U.S. futures.
Prices in the Alberta marketing hub of Hardisty have been largely unaffected by the Colonial pipeline outage this week in the United States. Industry sources said traders are more focused on turnarounds in the oil sands where a COVID-19 outbreak delayed maintenance at Suncor Energy’s base plant.
Pipeline company Enbridge Inc has defied an order from the U.S. state of Michigan to shut down its 540,000 barrel per day Line 5 pipeline, deepening a long-running feud over the line.
Global oil prices settled at $68.71 a barrel, rising $1.66, or 2.5% as stock markets strengthened and the U.S. dollar slipped, though gains were capped by the coronavirus situation in major oil consumer India.