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Tsvetana Paraskova

Tsvetana Paraskova

Tsvetana is a writer for Oilprice.com with over a decade of experience writing for news outlets such as iNVEZZ and SeeNews. 

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Canada Is Facing A Heavy Crude Crisis

Canada’s benchmark heavy crude oil widened its discount to WTI to the largest in six trading sessions on Thursday, as additional storage capacity in Alberta and data about lower crude-by-rail shipments added concerns over the domestic oil glut, as TransCanada’s Keystone Pipeline has yet to return to normal pressure levels following a leak and temporary shutdown last November.

On Thursday, Western Canadian Select was trading at a discount of US$27 a barrel to WTI. The discount widened to the biggest level, US$30.55 a barrel, in four years on February 5, after a selloff following the temporary shutdown of Keystone in mid-November.

This week, market participants were digesting news about increased storage capacity and January crude-by-rail data. Crude-by-rail exports out of Canada fell by 11.3 percent month on month in January to 140,959 bpd, according to the latest data by Canada’s Crude Oil Logistics Committee, quoted by Platts. Analysts had expected rail crude exports to be either flat or down, because Canadian rail operators and customers had reported delays in shipments due to extreme weather.

In addition, Kinder Morgan Canada and Canadian midstream operator Keyera said earlier this week that they added two additional tanks at the Base Line Terminal for service ahead of schedule. The two tanks add an additional 800,000 barrels of crude storage to the 1.6 million barrels currently in operation.

Meanwhile, data from Canada’s National Energy Board (NEB) showed that the Keystone Pipeline, which was restarted on November 28 after a shutdown on November 16, had throughput volumes of 582,000 bpd in December, following a slump to 298,000 bpd in November.

Related: 44 Things You Didn’t Know About Oil

Keystone was restarted at reduced pressure, as per U.S. regulation. TransCanada has managed to work around pressure restrictions and the January volumes are expected to be close to the December throughput, Kevin Birn, a senior analyst with IHS Markit, told Platts.

“The word out there is volumes in February and March will be lower, as TransCanada is carrying out a full integrity check on Keystone,” Birn added.

Canada’s heavy crude is expected to remain at hefty discounts to WTI in the next few years, as takeaway pipeline capacity is unable to meet rising production from new oil sands projects sanctioned before the downturn.

By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com

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Leave a comment
  • Kr55 on March 16 2018 said:
    Buffett's play to work with Obama to delay KXL is paying off very nicely for his rail businesses.
  • Joe on March 16 2018 said:
    Thanks for that article. Just a reminder for the Oilprice authors. It is mid March and in the coming months the number of rig drilling in Canada will be taking a dive as the frozen ground starts to thaw and drilling rigs simply cannot be moved because unpaved roads turn into a quagmire.This is an annual event and is called " Breakup". The rig rate does not pick up substantially until the ground has dried up, typically in June/July and occurs firstly in southern locations and finally in the northern most locations. The rig rate then typically picks up and peaks the following winter.
  • Ness on March 17 2018 said:
    Canadian oil producers did this to themselves. Expanded rapidly without the take away capacity in place
    Their share prices reflect this and will continue too

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