The discount on Western Canada Select crude oil to North American benchmark West Texas Intermediate futures widened on Thursday.
WCS for December delivery in Hardisty, Alberta, settled at $26.60 a barrel below the US benchmark WTI, compared with $25.75 on Tuesday, according to brokerage CalRock. Wednesday was a holiday in Canada.
* The discount on heavy Canadian crude remains wide, but has retreated somewhat from earlier this month. That is in part because global freight rates — while still high — have come down since October.
* The WCS differential at Hardisty in the first week of November reached as wide as $31 below WTI. At Houston, WCS barrels in late October hit an all-time wide discount of $23 as soaring global freight rates reduced demand for Canadian crude re-exports off the US Gulf Coast.
* Oil prices jumped on Thursday and settled up by $3 a barrel after attacks on Saudi energy infrastructure escalated and shipping disruptions through the Strait of Hormuz threatened global oil flows.
(Reporting by Amanda Stephenson in Calgary; Editing by Perla Velasco)