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(Reuters) – The discount on Western Canada Select to North American benchmark West Texas Intermediate futures widened on Wednesday.
WCS for January delivery in Hardisty, Alberta, settled at $13 a barrel below the U.S. benchmark WTI, according to brokerage CalRock, compared to $12.95 on Tuesday.
- After spending much of the year at historically tight levels, the WCS discount has widened recently to almost exactly where it was 12 months ago. This suggests the market has fully factored in all of the uplift that it got from the ramp-up of the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion, said RBN Energy analyst Martin King.
- The Trans Mountain pipeline has helped to support a tighter differential by giving Canadian oil producers additional export capacity. But King said the province of Alberta’s oil production continues to ramp up, which could put pressure on the WCS discount in the coming months. While there is still plenty of oil storage room in Alberta, providing a buffer for the time being, King said differentials could start to widen in late February or early March as U.S. refinery maintenance starts to ramp up.
- Oil prices settled higher on Wednesday after the U.S. and Russia failed to reach a deal to end the war in Ukraine that could have eased sanctions on Moscow’s oil sector, though gains were held back by fears of oversupply.
Reporting by Amanda Stephenson in Calgary; Editing by Alan Barona
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