Western Canada Select (WCS) crude’s discount to the benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) widened on Wednesday:
WCS for February delivery traded around $27 a barrel below the WTI, according to brokerage CalRock, widening from $26.50 a barrel below the U.S. benchmark the previous day.
The Canadian heavy crude market is still digesting the impact of a prolonged shutdown of TC Energy’s Keystone pipeline in December after a leak of 14,000 barrels in Kanasas. The 622,000 barrel-per-day pipeline delivers Canadian crude to U.S. refineries.
Global oil fell by more than $4 a barrel as demand concerns linked to the global economy and rising COVID-19 cases in China crushed crude prices.
That put the outright price of WCS at about $45 a barrel.