The discount on Western Canada Select crude oil to North American benchmark West Texas Intermediate futures widened on Wednesday.
WCS for July delivery in Hardisty, Alberta, settled at $11.90 a barrel below the U.S. benchmark WTI, according to brokerage CalRock, up from $11.80 a barrel on Tuesday.
* The WCS differential, which has been volatile with global crude price swings since the start of the U.S.-Iran conflict, has compressed as WTI has come down from recent months’ highs, said Al Salazar, head of research at Enverus.
* Canada’s Trans Mountain pipeline is at capacity for June. The pipeline is at apportionment, an industry term for when demand for spot capacity on a pipeline exceeds availability, for the first time since the Trans Mountain pipeline was completed two years ago.
* Oil prices closed up nearly $2 on Wednesday after President Donald Trump said the U.S. is going to attack Iran “very hard” if no peace deal is finalized.
(Reporting by Amanda Stephenson in Calgary; Editing by Joyjeet Das)