April 9 (Reuters) - The discount of Western Canada
Select (WCS) heavy crude to the North American benchmark West
Texas Intermediate futures (WTI) widened on Wednesday.
WCS for May delivery in Hardisty, Alberta, settled at
$10.30 a barrel under WTI, according to brokerage CalRock, after
having settled at $10.10 under the U.S. benchmark on Tuesday.
* The Keystone oil pipeline from Canada to the U.S. was shut
on Tuesday after an oil spill near Fort Ransom, North Dakota,
its operator South Bow ( SOBO ) and the state's Department of
Environmental Quality said.
* The WCS discount also reflects some tightness following
U.S. sanctions on heavy crude-producing countries such as
Venezuela, as well as lower heavy crude exports from Mexico.
* But the differential on Canadian heavy crude also tends to
widen when global oil prices are higher overall and narrow in
lower price environments, in part because lower prices mean less
competition for pipeline space for Canadian producers.
* Oil prices climbed more than 4% on Wednesday, bouncing back
from four-year lows earlier in the session, after U.S. President
Donald Trump said he would further increase tariffs on China but
pause the tariffs he announced last week for most other
countries.