* May synthetic fetches $2.50 under WTI
* WCS quoted at $24.50 under
* Upgrader outages slated to end this month
CALGARY, Alberta, April 2 (Reuters) – Canadian cash crude
prices have tightened in thin volume as pipeline restrictions
have eased following a month of unplanned outages at oil sands
plants in Alberta.
Light synthetic crude for May delivery last sold for $2.50 a
barrel under benchmark West Texas Intermediate, close to levels
at the start of last month, but a much smaller spread than the
$10 under it fetched at the end of the trading window for April.
Pipeline operators have set apportionment on major export
pipelines at lower levels for April than has been the case
during the past several months.
Apportionment on Enbridge Inc’s 491,000
barrel-a-day Line 5 to Sarnia, Ontario, from Superior,
Wisconsin, is down to 19 percent from 27 percent. Kinder Morgan
said it would move 39 percent of nominated volumes in
April on its 300,000 bpd Trans Mountain pipeline to Canada’s
West Coast from Alberta, compared with 30.6 percent the month
before.
During March, Canadian Natural Resources Ltd’s
110,000 bpd Horizon oil sands project restarted after a
several-week shutdown.
However, a 110,000 bpd coking unit at Syncrude Canada Ltd’s
oil sands operation was taken down for 30 days of unplanned work
around March 9.
A few days later, Suncor Energy Inc took one of two
upgraders at its 350,000 bpd oil sands operation down for up to
five weeks of unplanned work on a fractionator unit.
Both are expected to restart sometime in April. It is
unclear when Syncrude might take another coker, known as 8-3,
down for work. That turnaround was postponed due to the
unplanned repairs on the other unit.
Heavy crude spreads have also tightened. May Western Canada
Select heavy was quoted at $24.75 a barrel under WTI, compared
with $29.50 a barrel under at the end of April business.
Overall Canadian crude spreads have widened this year as
production has surged and export pipeline capacity has been
tight.
