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Western Canadian Select

Western Canadian Select (WCS) is a heavy sour blend of crude oil[1] that is one of North America's largest heavy crude oil streams[2] and, historically, its cheapest.[3] It was established in December 2004 as a new heavy oil stream by EnCana (now Cenovus), Canadian Natural Resources, Petro-Canada (now Suncor) and Talisman Energy (now Repsol Oil & Gas Canada).[4] It is composed mostly of bitumen blended with sweet synthetic and condensate diluents and 21[5] existing streams of both conventional and unconventional[5][6] Alberta heavy crude oils at the large Husky Midstream General Partnership terminal in Hardisty, Alberta.[7] Western Canadian Select—the benchmark for heavy, acidic (TAN <1.1) crudes[8][9]—is one of many petroleum products from the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin oil sands. Calgary-based Husky Energy, now a subsidiary of Cenovus, had joined the initial four founders in 2015.[7][8][10][11][12][13]

Western Canadian Select (WCS) is the benchmark price for western Canadian crude blends.[14] The price of other Canadian crude blends produced locally are also based on the price of the benchmark.

During the COVID-19 pandemic many oil benchmarks around the world fell to record lows, with WCS dropping to $3.81 U.S. dollars per barrel on April 21, 2020.[15][16] In June, Cenovus increased production at its Christina Lake oil sands project reaching record volumes of 405,658 bbls/d when the price of WCS increased "almost tenfold from April" to an average of $33.97 or C$46.03 per barrel (bbl).[17] During the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine the price of WCS rose to over US$100 a barrel with the United States considering placing a ban on Russian oil imports.[3]

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference Statista_20200812 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference Platts_2012 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ a b Tuttle 2022.
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference Oilsandsmagazine_2020 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ a b Mohr, Patricia (February 20, 2014), Scotiabank Commodity Price Index (PDF), Scotiabank, retrieved February 22, 2014
  6. ^ "Western Canadian Select Heavy Oil blend", TMX/Shorcan Energy Brokers
  7. ^ a b CAPP 2013.
  8. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference Argus_2012 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  9. ^ Natural Resources Canada, GC 2011, p. 9.
  10. ^ "Western Canadian Select (WCS)" (PDF), CME Group, 2012, retrieved April 18, 2014
  11. ^ Suncor 2013, p. 1.
  12. ^ Cenovus 2010.
  13. ^ Uptigrove, Meghanne (October 29, 2020). "Have Alberta's Skilled Workers had Enough?". Todayville Edmonton. Edmonton, Alberta. Retrieved April 18, 2021.
  14. ^ Government of Alberta (February 24, 2022). "Oil Prices". Economic Dashboard. Retrieved March 22, 2022.
  15. ^ Cite error: The named reference economicdashboard_alberta_2020 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  16. ^ Statista 2022.
  17. ^ "Cenovus reports second-quarter 2020 results" (Press release). Cenovus Energy. July 23, 2020. Retrieved August 12, 2020 – via GlobeNewswire.

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