Heavy discount edges wider, remains in narrow range

Canadian heavy crude’s discount versus West Texas Intermediate (WTI) widened on Friday, but stayed at tight levels on supply concerns and strong demand.Western Canada Select (WCS) heavy blend crude for October delivery in Hardisty, Alberta, traded at $8 per barrel below WTI, according to NE2 Canada Inc. It settled on Thursday at $7.45 under.

Imperial Oil Ltd shut production at its 220,000-barrel-per-day Kearl oil sands site in Alberta this month due to an outage of part of the Polaris pipeline in Alberta.

Smaller producers in Canada’s Montney oil and gas region struggling to weather the impact of coronavirus are selling their holdings in what just a few years ago was a booming patch.

Oil and chemical companies said they are worried Canada’s proposed standard to reduce carbon intensity of fuels will boost their costs as they struggle to rebound.

Global oil prices were little changed on Friday.