Heavy discount widens in correction after hitting 5-month milestone

Canadian heavy crude’s discount widened versus the U.S. benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude on Wednesday, in a modest correction after touching the narrowest level in five months.Western Canada Select (WCS) heavy blend crude for April delivery in Hardisty, Alberta, was trading at $14.60 per barrel below WTI, according to NE2 Canada Inc, wider than Tuesday’s settle of $14.10 under.

On Tuesday, the WCS-WTI differential was as narrow as $13, the smallest since Oct. 2.

The heavy differential remains relatively narrow due to production going offline for maintenance and lower inventories, a Calgary energy source said.

Light synthetic crude from the oil sands was trading at $2.10 over WTI, wider than Tuesday’s settle of $1.80 over.

Global crude oil prices ended lower, giving up early gains as major oil producers, including Saudi Arabia, struggled to bring Russia on board for deeper supply cuts to try to offset a slump in demand caused by the coronavirus outbreak.

Rail protests in Canada in February led to lower crude oil shipments on Canadian National Railway , its chief executive said.