Heavy Canadian Crude Rebounds as Refinery Plans to Restart Unit

Canadian heavy oil on the spot market strengthened from an all-time low discount to the U.S. benchmark price as BP Plc (BP/) was said to expect to restart a crude unit tomorrow at its refinery in Whiting, Indiana.

BP shut Pipestill 11C on Dec. 7 for unplanned repairs, a person familiar with operations said today. An attempted restart of the unit, which processes sour crude, was unsuccessful, said the person, who declined to be identified because the information isn’t public.

West Canada Select, a sour crude blended from conventional, heavy Canadian oils, strengthened $1 to a $37 discount to West Texas Intermediate in Cushing, Oklahoma, at 2:01 p.m. New York time, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

The Canadian oil fell $8.50 from Dec. 7, when the crude unit shut down, until yesterday, when it hit a $38-a-barrel discount against the U.S. benchmark crude. That was the largest discount since Bloomberg began tracking Canadian crude prices in May 2008.

Syncrude, a synthetic light, sweet oil upgraded from tar- like bitumen from Canada, was unchanged at 85 cents a barrel above WTI.

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