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2026-11-04 04:21:26
The discount of Canadian heavy crude oil to US crude oil prices has reached its largest level since 2018. The last time such a large price difference occurred was when severe pipeline bottlenecks forced the Alberta government to impose production restrictions on major local oil producers. According to pricing information from Modern Commodities and the General Index, in the morning trading session on November 3, the discount of Western Canadian Select crude oil in Alberta to the monthly average futures price of West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil widened to $31.70 per barrel, setting a new record for the largest discount since November 2018. In addition, the discount of another major Canadian benchmark crude oil—Cold Lake crude oil—to the US Gulf Coast also rose to a near eight-year high, reaching $23.10 per barrel. Such large discounts are usually highly correlated with regional transportation constraints and inventory backlogs in producing areas, directly impacting the revenue and profits of Canadian oil producers and potentially forcing the government to implement subsequent regulatory measures to balance supply and demand and transportation imbalances.
