The Canadian heavy oil benchmark rose on Wednesday after a pipeline carrying diluent necessary for oil sands production was shut down following a leak over the weekend, affecting production at a project operated by an Exxon subsidiary. The discount of Western Canadian Select (WCS) – the benchmark price of oil from Canada’s oil sands delivered at Hardisty, Alberta – relative to the U.S. benchmark WTI Crude narrowed to below $10 a barrel for the first time since August 17, according to Bloomberg estimates of NE2 Group data. On Wednesday, the October contract of Western Canadian Select closed at $31.86 , while WTI Crude settled at $41.51. The shutdown of the pipeline carrying diluent has affected production at the Kearl oil sands project of Imperial Oil, which is majority-owned by ExxonMobil. Inter Pipeline, the operator of the diluent pipeline, said on Saturday that it had detected a leak along its […]