The discount of Western Canada Select (WCS) heavy crude to the North American benchmark West Texas Intermediate futures (WTI) narrowed on Wednesday, a day after U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs on goods from Mexico and Canada took effect.
* WCS for April delivery in Hardisty, Alberta, settled at $13.60 a barrel under WTI, according to brokerage CalRock, after having settled at $13.70 under the U.S. benchmark on Tuesday.
* Trump on Tuesday applied 25% tariffs to most Canadian goods and 10% to energy products.
* Canada exports approximately 4 million barrels of oil per day, about 90% of its total crude exports, to the United States.
* The Canadian heavy crude market had a “knee-jerk reaction” to the tariffs immediately following their implementation, said RBN Energy analyst Martin King.
* The discount on WCS could widen further if tariffs stay in effect, King said, but it will take a month or more for the market to assess the impact of tariffs on Canadian crude demand south of the border.
* Canada’s large oil producers will still be profitable even if the WCS discount widens by up to $4 to $5, King said. “That would be perfectly manageable for the Canadian oil and gas producer.”
* Globally, oil prices settled down for the fourth consecutive session on Wednesday after U.S. crude oil stockpiles posted a larger-than-expected build, adding a further headwind as investors worried about OPEC+ plans to increase output in April and U.S. tariffs on Canada, China and Mexico.
(Reporting by Amanda Stephenson in Calgary; Editing by Alan Barona)