The Canadian Syncrude cash differential Wednesday was assessed at a premium to the NYMEX front calendar month average for the first time in over a month.
The Syncrude differential was assessed Wednesday at the NYMEX front calendar month average plus 25 cents/barrel, a $3.25/b increase from Tuesday's assessment. The last time the differential was at a premium was on January 3 when it was assessed at plus $1/b.
The Syncrude differential jumped up $15/b Tuesday to minus $3/b due to Canadian Natural Resources Ltd saying its 110,000 b/d Horizon upgrader, which produces synthetic crude would be down about a month longer than expected.
Just last week, the Syncrude differential hit its lowest level since Platts began assessing it in March 2006. The record low of minus $23/b was assessed on February 9.
All Canadian pipeline crude differentials fell during March-injection trading this month on strong production coupled with pipeline constraints due to a lack of capacity to ship the crudes to additional markets, market sources have said.
