Canadian Oils Weaken to One-Month Low as Refineries Begin Work

Canadian oils on the spot market weakened to the lowest levels in more than a month as refineries in Canada and the U.S. Midwest that process the crude begin planned maintenance.

HollyFrontier Corp. (HFC)’s 90,000-barrel-a-day Tulsa West refinery in Oklahoma will begin a turnaround soon, said Julia Heidenreich, a Dallas-based spokeswoman. The plant will be idled for about five weeks, a person with knowledge of the repairs said June 28.

Suncor Energy Inc. (SU) will shut units Oct. 8 at its 137,000- barrel-a-day Montreal refinery in Quebec for three weeks of maintenance, the company said in a notice posted on an industry website.

Western Canada Select’s discount to West Texas Intermediate widened $3 to $14.75 a barrel at 4:10 p.m. in New York, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. It’s the weakest the discount has been since Aug. 31.

Syncrude’s premium to WTI fell $3.50 to $5.75 a barrel, the smallest since Aug. 31. Nexen Inc. (NXY)’s Long Lake upgrader was expected to resume making synthetic crude by the end of this week after being down for planned maintenance, Patti Lewis, a Calgary-based spokeswoman, said in an Oct. 2 e-mail.

Bakken oil’s premium narrowed by $1.50 to $2.50 a barrel.

To contact the reporter on this story: Dan Murtaugh in Houston at dmurtaugh@bloomberg.net

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