Canadian heavy crude’s discount to West Texas Intermediate (WTI) widened slightly on Friday:
Western Canada Select (WCS) heavy blend crude for August delivery in Hardisty, Alberta, traded at $14.10 per barrel below the WTI benchmark, according to NE2 Canada Inc, wider than Wednesday’s settle of $13.95 a barrel under the benchmark.
Friday is the first day of the monthly Canadian crude trading window when liquidity picks up. It runs from the beginning of each month until the day before pipeline nominations are due, about two weeks.
Trading was thin following the Canada Day holiday on Thursday and ahead of a long weekend in the United States.
The discount may narrow during the cycle with refinery utilization picking up in both the U.S. and Canada, an industry source said.
Light synthetic crude from the oil sands for August delivery traded at 75 cents a barrel below U.S. futures, compared to 40 cents under, on Wednesday.
Canadian total crude oil exports fell 190,000 barrels per day (bpd) to 3.37 million bpd in May – Statistics Canada.
Global oil prices were little changed after OPEC+ ministers delayed an output policy meeting, with sources saying the United Arab Emirates had balked at proposals that included raising supply by 2 million barrels per day (bpd) by the end of the year.