The discount on heavy crude widened versus the West Texas Intermediate (WTI) benchmark on Wednesday.
Western Canada Select heavy blend crude for June delivery in Hardisty, Alberta, settled at $13.35 a barrel below WTI, according to NE2 Group, widening from Tuesday’s settlement price of $12.70 a barrel below the benchmark.
Light synthetic crude from the oil sands for June delivery settled at $6.50 a barrel over WTI, up 40 cents from the previous trading day.
Ongoing maintenance at oil sands upgraders is helping keep synthetic prices high.
Global oil prices jumped as the European Union, the world’s largest trading bloc, spelled out plans to phase out imports of Russian oil, raising concerns about further market tightness as those nations hunt for adequate supply.