The gap between heavy sour crude prices in Canada and those on the US Gulf coast widened for September delivery, but remain narrow compared to pre-pandemic spreads. Heavy benchmark Western Canadian Select (WCS) at the Alberta logistics hub at Hardisty settled near $11/bl under the September Nymex WTI CMA basis in the trade window that closed two weeks ago. That is historically tight, but about $3.50/bl wider than the previous month as oil sands output rebounds. That level could encourage some long-haul shipments to the US Gulf coast, as the walk-up rate for Enbridge's system is about $9/bl. Canadian pipeline shipments are recovering as Enbridge's 3mn b/d Mainline crude export system will see ap-portionment in September for the third-consecutive month.
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