Heavy crude discount widens, synthetic premium remains high

The discount on heavy crude versus the West Texas Intermediate (WTI) benchmark widened further on Thursday, while synthetic crude strengthened again.

Western Canada Select heavy blend crude for June delivery in Hardisty, Alberta, last traded at $13.70 a barrel below WTI, according to NE2 Group, widening from Wednesday’s settlement price of $13.35 a barrel below the benchmark.

Light synthetic crude from the oil sands for June delivery settled at $6.50 a barrel over WTI, unchanged from the previous trading day.

Ongoing maintenance at oil sands upgraders is helping keep synthetic prices high.

Canadian Natural Resources Ltd will start a 32-day turnaround at its Horizon upgrader on May 17, which is expected to cut annual production by 23,000 barrels per day.

The company also said a planned turnaround at its majority-owned Scotford upgrader, operated by Shell, would wrap up in late May, five to 10 days later than originally planned.

Canadian Natural president Tim McKay told an earnings call on Thursday he expected the premium on synthetic crude would decline once spring maintenance turnarounds are completed.

Global oil prices edged up on supply worries after the European Union (EU) laid out plans for new sanctions against Russia including an embargo on crude.