The discount on Western Canada Select crude oil to North American benchmark West Texas Intermediate futures narrowed on Wednesday.
WCS for August delivery in Hardisty, Alberta, settled at $13.15 a barrel below the U.S. benchmark WTI, according to brokerage CalRock, compared to $13.40 on Tuesday.
* The discount remains significantly wider than it was in June, after traffic through the Strait of Hormuz picked up earlier this month and due to the ongoing weakness in China’s import appetite, which is hurting demand for heavy crude globally, analysts said.
* Demand for North American crude oil could increase as Asian refiners might seek to secure alternative supplies amid escalating tensions in the Middle East. Asian refiners snapped up U.S. crude cargoes overnight, trade sources said.
* Oil sands’ spring turnarounds and maintenance work from the second quarter of the year are now back online, adding supply to the market, according to analysts.
* Global oil prices rose slightly, reacting to smaller-than-expected US crude oil inventory drawdown, and largely shrugging off a new wave of U.S. attacks against Iranian military installations that aimed to limit Tehran’s ability to strike shipping in the Strait of Hormuz.
(Reporting by Arathy Somasekhar in Houston; Editing by Jonathan Ananda)