The discount of Western Canada Select (WCS) heavy crude to the North American benchmark West Texas Intermediate futures (WTI) narrowed slightly on Thursday:
* WCS for March delivery in Hardisty, Alberta, settled at $13.95 a barrel under WTI, according to brokerage CalRock, having ended at a $14 discount on Wednesday.
* Canadian heavy crude prices have held up “remarkably well” in the face of U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs plan, TD Cowen said in an analyst note.
* Investors believed a tariff announcement would immediately pressure the WCS heavy differential, but that has not proven to be the case, TD Cowen said. The discount is currently trading at levels not far off of what was seen prior to Trump’s election.
* Trump paused his plan to impose a 10% levy on Canadian oil for 30 days on Monday, in return for concessions on border and crime enforcement.
* Canada exports approximately 4 million barrels of oil per day to the U.S.
* Global oil prices settled lower on Thursday after U.S. President Trump repeated a pledge to raise U.S. oil production, unnerving traders a day after the country reported a much bigger-than-anticipated jump in crude stockpiles.
(Reporting by Amanda Stephenson in Calgary; Editing by Alan Barona)