Refiners Lean on Inventories as Canada Output Falters

摘要

Record high inventories of crude oil in the US provide some buffer from production outages in Canada, the nation's largest supplier for foreign crude, but prices are spiking nonetheless. An ongoing wildfire in Canada's prolific oil sands has disrupted production to the tune of about 1.5 million barrels per day as well as pipeline and rail deliveries. Experts told Oil Daily that the longer the outages continue, the more painful it will be for refiners who rely on a wide spread between heavy Canadian barrels and light crude (OD May9'16).