Alberta Heavy Oil Weakens After BP Whiting Hydrotreater Fire

Western Canada Select, a heavy oil blend from Alberta, weakened after a hydrotreater fire at BP Plc’s Whiting, Indiana, refinery threatened to curb crude demand.

Planned repairs on the unit were suspended, a person with knowledge of the situation said. The person, who asked not to be identified because the information is private, didn’t know if the suspension of the work and an investigation into the fire would delay the completion of the maintenance.

Western Canada Select’s discount widened 75 cents to $14.75 a barrel below West Texas Intermediate at 2:07 p.m. in New York, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Syncrude, a synthetic oil upgraded from tarlike bitumen in Alberta into refinery-ready crude, strengthened 85 cents to a $7.10 premium above the U.S. benchmark.

The discount for Bakken oil from North Dakota was unchanged at 50 cents below WTI.

Light Louisiana Sweet’s premium to the U.S. benchmark added 70 cents to $19.70 a barrel. Heavy Louisiana Sweet increased 65 cents to $19.40 per barrel over WTI.

Poseidon’s premium added 15 cents to $14.55 a barrel. Mars Blend increased 10 cents to $14.65 a barrel over WTI. Southern Green Canyon’s premium added 25 cents to $14.25.

Thunder Horse, a sour crude with lower sulfur content than Mars, Poseidon and Southern Green Canyon, increased 20 cents to a premium of $17.

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

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Dan Stets at dstets@bloomberg.net