The discount on Western Canada Select to North American benchmark West Texas Intermediate futures narrowed on Friday.
WCS for October delivery in Hardisty, Alberta, settled at $11.10 a barrel under the U.S. benchmark WTI, according to brokerage CalRock, compared with $11.20 a barrel discount on Thursday.
* That is the tightest discount WCS has settled at this month, though analysts say discounts are unlikely to get as tight this autumn as they were in the spring, when wildfires temporarily disrupted Canadian production.
* This is in part because Western Canadian crude production continues to grow, with the oil-producing province of Alberta hitting a new record of 4.3 million barrels per day in July.
* U.S. imports of Venezuelan heavy crude also resumed in late August, a factor that weighs on demand for Canadian heavy barrels.
* Canada’s government is in discussions with energy companies and the oil-producing province Alberta about eliminating a federal cap on emissions from the country’s oil and gas sector if the industry and province reduce their carbon footprint in other ways, three sources with knowledge of the talks said.
* Global oil prices rose on Friday after a Ukrainian drone attack suspended loadings from the largest port in western Russia, but gains were capped by concerns about U.S. demand.
(Reporting by Amanda Stephenson in Calgary; Editing by Mohammed Safi Shamsi)