Heavy discount widens slightly as production rises

Canadian heavy crude’s discount widened a tad versus West Texas Intermediate (WTI) on Thursday, reflecting rising oil production.Western Canada Select (WCS) heavy blend crude for September delivery in Hardisty, Alberta, traded at $12.05 per barrel below WTI, according to NE2 Canada Inc. It settled the previous day at $11.95 under.

The market is slowly rebalancing from tightness during the pandemic in the global heavy oil-light oil spread, a Calgary industry source said.

Light synthetic crude from the oil sands for September delivery traded at $2.25 a barrel under WTI, wider than the previous day’s settle of $1.60 under.

Global oil prices hovered near five-month highs as support from a weak dollar and Iraq’s planned production cuts counteracted bearish sentiment about fuel demand.

Canadian Natural Resources sees low pipeline apportionment in third quarter. It said it has restored most of its shut-in volumes.