The discount on Western Canada Select (WCS) heavy crude versus the North American benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) edged wider on Friday, the first day of the new monthly trade cycle, continuing to trade in a narrow range.
* WCS for April delivery in Hardisty, Alberta, settled at $18.75 a barrel under WTI, according to brokerage CalRock, having closed at $17.75 per barrel below the U.S. benchmark on Tuesday.
* Canadian heavy crude differentials had traded within sight of $19 a barrel below WTI last month, after an outage at BP’s 435,000 barrel-per-day (bpd) Whiting, Indiana, refinery and delays to the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion (TMX) project.
* Oil producer MEG Energy said on Friday line fill on Canada’s long-delayed Trans Mountain oil pipeline expansion would start from April. The Canadian government-owned pipeline corporation has called for 2.1 million barrels in April and the same amount of oil in May, MEG’s CEO said.
* Global oil futures rose by $1.64 a barrel as traders awaited an OPEC+ decision on supply agreements for the second quarter while also weighing fresh U.S., European and Chinese economic data.
(Reporting by Arathy Somasekhar in Houston)