Canadian heavy crude’s differential to benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude narrowed slightly on Monday.
Western Canada Select (WCS) heavy blend crude for March delivery in Hardisty, Alberta, was trading at $14.00 per barrel below the WTI benchmark, according to NE2 Canada Inc, having settled at $14.10 per barrel below the U.S. crude benchmark on Friday.
Monday’s slightly tighter differential came after four consecutive sessions in which the discount on Canadian crude rose. Market participants said WCS had weakened in recent sessions in response to a surge in WTI, which made the outright price of Canadian barrels more expensive.
One industry source said trade was thin but predicted more volume later in the week. The Canadian crude trading window this month is shorter than usual and wraps up on Friday.
Light synthetic crude from the oil sands traded at $1.10 per barrel over WTI, down from $1.35 a barrel the previous day.
Global oil prices settled lower on faint signs of progress in nuclear talks between the United States and Iran, which could lead to the removal of U.S. sanctions on Iranian oil sales.