The discount on Western Canada Select to the North American benchmark West Texas Intermediate futures was unchanged on Friday.
WCS for August delivery in Hardisty, Alberta, settled at $10.30 a barrel under the U.S. benchmark WTI, according to brokerage CalRock, flat on Thursday’s trade. Trading volumes were thin due to the U.S. Independence Day holiday.
* Summer and the return of road construction season are a seasonally strong time of year for Canadian heavy crude, which is used by U.S. refiners to produce asphalt.
* The WCS discount has widened slightly since last month, when concerns about wildfires in Canada’s oil-producing regions led to a temporary tightening. But pricing for Canadian crude remains historically strong, in part due to the opening of the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion, which boosted the country’s oil export capacity to Asian markets.
* Global oil futures slipped slightly Friday on light trading volumes, as the market looked ahead to this weekend’s OPEC+ meeting and the likelihood that member countries will decide to raise output.
(Reporting by Amanda Stephenson in Calgary; )