Headlines

The discount on Western Canada Select crude oil to North American benchmark West Texas Intermediate futures narrowed slightly on Wednesday. WCS for June delivery in Hardisty, Alberta settled at $15.85 a barrel below the U.S. benchmark WTI, according to brokerage CalRock, compared to $15.90 on Tuesday. * While the discount has narrowed since the start of the month, the differential for heavy Canadian crude remains wider than it was at the beginning of the U.S. war on Iran. * The WCS [Read more]

OTTAWA - Ottawa and Alberta are closing in on a deal on industrial carbon pricing. A source with knowledge of the discussions who was not authorized to speak publicly about them tells The Canadian Press the two governments expect to announce an effective carbon price of $130 per tonne of greenhouse gas emissions as of 2040. The agreement stems from the energy pact Canada and Alberta reached last fall which tied various climate policies to an Alberta oil pipeline to the West Coast. The [Read more]

OPEC on Wednesday lowered its forecast for global oil demand growth in 2026, joining other forecasters such as the International Energy Agency in cutting expectations due to the Iran war. The producer group sees a smaller hit to demand than the IEA, which earlier on Wednesday increased its estimate of the decline in oil use this year. OPEC said consumption would rebound later and raised its demand growth forecast for 2027. The war has effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz, a key global [Read more]

U.S. crude and gasoline stocks fell last week while distillate inventories rose, the U.S. Energy Information Administration said on Wednesday. Crude inventories fell by 4.3 million barrels to 452.9 million barrels last week, the EIA said, compared with analysts' expectations in a Reuters poll for a 2.1-million-barrel draw. Crude stocks at the Cushing, Oklahoma, delivery hub dropped by 1.7 million barrels in the week ended May 8, the EIA said. Oil futures extended gains following the [Read more]