The discount on Western Canada Select to North American benchmark West Texas Intermediate futures narrowed on Friday.
WCS for February delivery in Hardisty, Alberta, settled at $13.15 a barrel below the U.S. benchmark WTI, according to brokerage CalRock, compared with $13.40 on Wednesday.
* After spending much of the year in the $9-$11 range, in large part due to the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion that has given Canadian oil producers additional export capacity, the WCS discount has recently traded in a wider range.
* The widening can be attributed in part to rising Canadian production growth that has increased pressure along the country’s export pipelines, as well as normal seasonal patterns.
* Oil prices settled lower on Friday on the first trading day of 2026 after registering their biggest annual loss since 2020, as investors weighed oversupply concerns against geopolitical risks, including the war in Ukraine and Venezuela exports.
(Reporting by Arathy Somasekhar in Houston; Editing by Vijay Kishore)