The discount on Western Canada Select to North American benchmark West Texas Intermediate futures widened on Friday.
WCS for January delivery in Hardisty, Alberta, settled at $12.95 a barrel below the U.S. benchmark WTI, according to brokerage CalRock, compared to $12.85 on Thursday.
* After spending much of the year at historically tight levels, in large part due to the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion which has given Canadian oil producers additional export capacity, the WCS discount has recently widened on increasing Canadian oil production.
* Enbridge’s Mainline pipeline network, which transports Canadian heavy crude to U.S. markets, is apportioned — an industry term for when demand for pipeline space exceeds capacity — for December. But the Trans Mountain pipeline, Canada’s only oil export pipeline with direct access to overseas markets, is not at capacity.
* Global oil prices edged up nearly 1% to a two-week high on Friday on increasing expectations the U.S. Federal Reserve will cut interest rates next week, which could boost economic growth and energy demand, as well as geopolitical uncertainty that could limit supplies from Russia and Venezuela.
(Reporting by Amanda Stephenson in Calgary; Editing by Daniel Wallis)