Heavy Canadian Oil Weakens After Enbridge Pipeline Shut Down

Heavy Canadian oil weakened after Enbridge Inc. (ENB) shut a Wisconsin pipeline that helps move Alberta crude to U.S. refiners.

The Calgary-based pipeline operator shut Line 14, which runs from Superior, Wisconsin to the Griffith-Hartsdale area in Indiana, after a July 27 leak. The 317,600-barrel-a-day pipe spilled an estimated 1,200 barrels of oil.

A new section of the line was tentatively scheduled to be installed today, Graham White, an Enbridge spokesman based in Calgary, said in an e-mail.

Western Canada Select’s discount widened $1.50 to $21.50 a barrel below West Texas Intermediate at 12:21 p.m. in New York, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Syncrude added 25 cents to a discount of $3 versus the U.S. benchmark. Syncrude is a synthetic oil upgraded from tar-like bitumen in Alberta into refinery-ready crude.

Bakken oil’s discount to WTI narrowed 75 cents to $4 a barrel.

On the U.S. Gulf Coast, sweet oil premiums widened against WTI. Heavy Louisiana Sweet’s premium to the U.S. benchmark added 20 cents to $17 a barrel while Light Louisiana Sweet’s increased 30 cents to $17.30.

Poseidon’s premium was unchanged at $11.60 and Southern Green Canyon held at $10.50 a barrel over WTI. Mars Blend increased 25 cents to $12.10 a barrel over the U.S. benchmark.

The premium for Thunder Horse, a sour crude with lower sulfur content than Mars, Poseidon and Southern Green Canyon, increased 25 cents a barrel to $15.75.

To contact the reporter on this story: Aaron Clark in New York at aclark27@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Bill Banker at bbanker@bloomberg.net