The discount on Western Canada Select to the North American benchmark West Texas Intermediate futures widened on Wednesday.
WCS for September delivery in Hardisty, Alberta, settled at $11.85 a barrel under the U.S. benchmark WTI, according to brokerage CalRock, compared with $11.75 a barrel on Tuesday.
* The differential between Canadian heavy crude and the U.S. benchmark is the widest it has been since March. This is due to the return of more normal market conditions, analysts say, after the discount became extremely tight this spring due to wildfires in Canada that temporarily disrupted oil sands output.
* Canadian heavy crude, which is used by U.S. refiners to make asphalt, typically sees strong seasonal demand heading into the start of the summer driving season and then dips as traders begin to look ahead to the fall.
* Canadian pipeline operator Enbridge ENB.TO said on Friday it is seeing strong demand for Canadian crude from the U.S. market. It said its Mainline pipeline network that transports oil from Western Canada to Eastern Canadian markets and then south to the United States has been fully utilized for six of the last eight months.
* Canada’s Trans Mountain pipeline, which transports Western Canadian crude to the British Columbia Pacific coast for export, is also exploring capacity enhancement projects to meet growing demand from oil shippers.
* Globally, oil prices slid about 1% to an eight-week low after U.S. President Donald Trump’s remarks about progress in talks with Moscow created uncertainty on whether the U.S. would impose new sanctions on Russia.
(Reporting by Georgina McCartney in Houston; Editing by Alan Barona)