Heavy discount widens as global oil prices rise

Canadian heavy crude’s discount widened versus the U.S. benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) on Wednesday as Alberta oil storage levels eased and Enbridge Inc’s Line 3 pipeline faced added delays.Western Canada Select (WCS) heavy blend crude for July delivery in Hardisty, Alberta, traded at $8.60 per barrel below WTI, according to NE2 Canada Inc, wider than Tuesday’s settle of $7.65 under.

Light synthetic crude from the oil sands was trading at $2 below WTI after Tuesday’s settle of $1.80 under.

About 27 million barrels of oil is currently held in storage in Canada’s Alberta province, down from a peak of 37 million barrels earlier this year according to estimates by Imperial Oil , Royal Bank of Canada analysts said.

A Minnesota pollution regulator said it will hold a public hearing this summer on Enbridge’s plan to replace its Line 3 oil pipeline, adding a potential two-month delay and pushing the bulk of construction to next year.

Global oil prices edged higher but were pressured by doubts about the timing and scale of a potential extension to an output pact between OPEC and its allies as well as a surge in U.S. refined product inventories.