The discount on Western Canada Select (WCS) heavy crude versus the North American benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) narrowed on Friday:
* WCS for September delivery in Hardisty, Alberta, settled at $14.35 a barrel below WTI, according to brokerage CalRock, having settled at $15.05 a barrel under the U.S. benchmark on Thursday.
* Canadian heavy crude prices have come under pressure in recent weeks due to a number of factors including U.S. refinery outages and weak pricing on the U.S. Gulf Coast, analysts said.
* Exxon Mobil’s 251,800-barrel-per-day refinery in Joliet, Illinois, started heating its units this week, according to industry monitor IIR, and may be able to restart operations sometimes in mid-August. Joliet is a major consumer of Canadian crude and took most units offline after losing power following a tornado in July.
* Global oil prices fell, settling at their lowest since January after data showed the U.S. economy added fewer jobs than expected last month, and weak Chinese economic data added more pressure.
(Reporting by Nia Williams in British Columbia; Editing by Will Dunham)