The discount on heavy crude widened versus the West Texas Intermediate (WTI) benchmark on Tuesday.
Western Canada Select heavy blend crude for June delivery in Hardisty, Alberta, last traded at $12.75 a barrel below WTI, according to NE2 Group, widening 15 cents from the previous day’s settlement.
Light synthetic crude from the oil sands for June delivery last traded at $6.05 a barrel over WTI, up 55 cents from the previous trading day.
Ongoing maintenance at oil sands upgraders is helping keep synthetic prices high. Light crudes are also being supported by production outages in the Bakken region following severe weather last week.
Global oil prices fell by more than 2%, as demand worries stemming from China’s prolonged COVID-19 lockdowns outweighed the prospect of a European embargo on Russian crude.