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WCS for September delivery in Hardisty, Alberta, settled at $11.60 a barrel under the U.S. benchmark WTI, according to brokerage CalRock, compared with $11.75 a barrel on Thursday.
* The differential between Canadian heavy crude and the U.S. benchmark has trended generally wider this month.
* It is not unusual to see seasonal weakening in WCS pricing heading into autumn, but this year’s softening comes following months of extremely strong market conditions for Canadian crude.
* The WCS discount is now approximately $3 wider than it was in late spring, when wildfires temporarily disrupted oil sands supply in northern Alberta and the Canadian crude market saw some of the tightest WCS differentials since 2020.
* One factor behind the recent widening trend is the threat of competition from Venezuelan heavy crude exports to the U.S. Gulf Coast, which resumed Friday due to easing of U.S. sanctions.
* Globally, oil prices closed down nearly $1 on Friday as traders awaited talks between U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian leader Vladimir Putin, which could lead to an easing of the sanctions imposed on Moscow over the war in Ukraine.
(Reporting by Amanda Stephenson in Calgary; Editing by Shreya Biswas)
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