Canadian heavy crude’s discount to West Texas Intermediate (WTI) narrowed on Tuesday, the start of a new monthly trading cycle:
Western Canada Select (WCS) heavy blend crude for September delivery in Hardisty, Alberta, traded at $14.40 per barrel below the WTI benchmark, according to NE2 Canada Inc, narrower than $14.70 per barrel below U.S. crude futures on Monday.
Physical trading of Canadian crude is busiest in the first half of each month until nominations are due to ship volumes on Enbridge Inc’s Mainline.
The gradual widening in recent weeks of the WCS differential to WTI reflects rising Canadian oil production after a busy turnaround season, said Rory Johnston, managing director and market economist at Price Street. Differentials look to stay rangebound for the next month, he said.
Light synthetic crude from the oil sands for September delivery traded at $1.80 per barrel below WTI, wider than the previous day’s settle of $1.15 under.
Global oil prices settled lower in volatile trade on worries about Delta variant.