Canadian heavy crude’s discount to West Texas Intermediate (WTI) widened on Tuesday in choppy trade.
Western Canada Select (WCS) heavy blend crude for May delivery in Hardisty, Alberta, last traded at $10.10 per barrel below WTI, according to NE2 Canada Inc, widening from Monday’s settlement of $9.85 per barrel below the benchmark.
Early in Tuesday’s session, WCS changed hands at $9.75 a barrel below WTI.
Synthetic crude from the oil sands traded at $1.00 a barrel above WTI, weakening from the previous settle of $1.70 a barrel over the benchmark.
One Calgary-based industry source said WCS prices in Hardisty had weakened in line with a dip in heavy crude prices on the U.S. Gulf Coast, but remain supported by maintenance season in the oil sands, which will trim supply.
More than 200,000 barrels per day (bpd) of oil sands crude are being taken offline during the second quarter because of scheduled turnarounds at oil sands plants in northern Alberta.
Global oil prices rose 1%, helped by strong economic data from China and the United States.