Canadian heavy crude’s discount to West Texas Intermediate (WTI) narrowed on Thursday.
Western Canada Select (WCS) heavy blend crude for August delivery in Hardisty, Alberta, traded at $13 per barrel below the WTI benchmark, according to NE2 Canada Inc, narrower than Wednesday’s settle of $13.30 a barrel under the benchmark.
Rising refinery rates and tight Alberta oil stocks are narrowing the differential, market sources said.
Light synthetic crude from the oil sands for August delivery traded at $1.50 a barrel below U.S. futures, compared with $1.70 under, on Wednesday.
The Trans Mountain Pipeline is apportioned at 22% for July and will run at maximum capacity, Trans Mountain Corp said.
Global oil prices rebounded from early losses after U.S. government data showed a much bigger drop than expected in crude and gasoline inventories.