Oil Pipeline Pinch Re-Emerges in Canada, Widening Heavy Crude Discount

Canada’s pipelines have been forced to ration their space this year amid signs oil production is rising before the startup of the expanded Trans Mountain pipeline system next year. For November, Enbridge Inc. increased apportionment on its Mainline system, the country’s largest oil export pipeline network, to the most in about two years.

Alberta’s total crude output rose to 3.01 million barrels a day in August, the highest since May, Alberta Energy Regulator data show. But the true output is almost certainly higher as the data has excluded output from Suncor Energy Inc., one of the largest oil-sands producers. The increased production is coming amid a heavier-than-usual refinery maintenance season in the US, which has spurred increased Canadian oil exports off the US Gulf Coast.