Canadian heavy crude’s discount to West Texas Intermediate (WTI) held steady on Thursday.
Western Canada Select heavy blend crude for November delivery in Hardisty, Alberta, last traded at $12.70 per barrel below the WTI benchmark, according to NE2 Canada Inc, unchanged from the previous day’s settle.
The discount on heavy crude had been edging wider since the start of the monthly trade cycle last Friday, after hitting its narrowest level in five months in late September in anticipation of Enbridge Inc bringing its Line 3 replacement project into service. Linefill on the Line 3 pipeline started on Oct. 1.
Light synthetic crude from the oil sands for November delivery settled at 70 cents a barrel below U.S. benchmark crude, also unchanged from Wednesday’s settle.
Global oil prices rebounded as the market deemed it unlikely that the United States would release emergency crude reserves or ban exports to ease tight supplies.