Heavy discount eases slightly, remains at tight levels

Canadian heavy crude’s discount versus West Texas Intermediate (WTI) eased on Thursday, remaining at tight levels on supply concerns and improving demand.Western Canada Select (WCS) heavy blend crude for October delivery in Hardisty, Alberta, traded at $7.45 per barrel below WTI, according to NE2 Canada Inc. It settled on Wednesday at $7.50 under.

The differential remains tight due to strong U.S. Gulf Coast demand for Canadian heavy oil, ample pipeline space and recent production outages, a Calgary industry source said.

Imperial Oil Ltd shut production at its 220,000-barrel-per-day (bpd) Kearl oil sands site in Alberta this month due to an outage of part of the Polaris pipeline in Alberta. Suncor Energy this week reduced its 2020 production guidance by 9% after the August fire at its Base Mine.

Light synthetic oil from the oil sands for October delivery traded at 80 cents below WTI, narrower than Wednesday’s settle of $1.30 under.

Enbridge Inc said on Wednesday it will restart the east segment of its Line 5 pipeline in the Straits of Mackinac after receiving authorization from the U.S. federal pipeline regulator.

Global oil prices eased after U.S. data showed a surprise build in crude stockpiles last week.