Heavy discount narrows as inventory levels shrink

Canadian heavy crude’s discount versus U.S. benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude narrowed on Monday, the first day of the new monthly trading cycle.Alberta oil inventories have shrunk as rail movement increases, a Calgary industry source said. Anticipation of downtime for maintenance at oil production sites in March, the current delivery period being traded, also reduced the discount, the source said.

Western Canada Select (WCS) heavy blend crude for March delivery in Hardisty, Alberta, was trading at $19.75 per barrel below WTI, according to NE2 Canada Inc, narrower than Friday’s settle of $20.45.

Light synthetic crude from the oil sands traded at $4.30 below WTI, after settling on Friday at $3.65 under WTI.

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