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The discount on Western Canada Select crude oil to North American benchmark West Texas Intermediate futures widened on Thursday.
WCS for May delivery in Hardisty, Alberta, settled at $14.60 a barrel below the U.S. benchmark WTI, according to brokerage CalRock, compared with $13 on Wednesday.
* The war in Iran has disrupted global supply of medium and heavy sour barrels, contributing to tighter spreads for heavy crude last month as well as higher outright pricing.
* But global crude markets have been volatile in recent days, as U.S. President Donald Trump and Iran have traded threats.
* There is room for the WCS differential to tighten by another dollar or two, said RBN Energy analyst Martin King. It appears that the war will continue for at least a few more weeks, which will further tighten the supply of medium and heavy sour crudes worldwide, he said.
* Canada’s oil sands operators will be heading into planned maintenance turnarounds in the coming weeks, which will lead to tighter supply in the second half of April and much of May, King added.
* U.S. oil prices settled more than 11% higher and Brent soared nearly 8% on Thursday in volatile trading, as traders worried about prolonged disruptions to oil supply the day after Trump said the U.S. would continue attacks on Iran.29dk2902l
(Reporting by Amanda Stephenson in Calgary; Editing by Shreya Biswas)
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