WCS Rises 7 Percent to $79.84 as Hormuz Disruptions Redirect Heavy Crude Demand to Alberta Oil Sands

Western Canadian Select crude gained $5.36 per barrel, or 7.2 percent, to close at $79.84 on Friday, July 24, per OilPrice.com pricing data. WTI crude fell $2.88 per barrel in the same session to $89.31 on the CME. The WCS-WTI spread narrowed to $9.47 per barrel, well below the $15 to $20 discount that characterized the differential for most of the early 2020s. Oil Authority calculated the $9.47 figure by subtracting Friday's WCS close from Friday's WTI close using OilPrice.com's current pricing data.

Heavy Sour Supply Shortage Separates the Two Benchmarks

WCS and WTI moved in opposite directions because Hormuz disruptions have tightened supply of heavy sour crude while light sweet barrels remain relatively available. Saudi crude exports through the Red Sea fell 41 percent from their March 2026 peak, per OilPrice.com market data. Only one oil tanker crossed the Strait of Hormuz on July 24, the lowest single-day transit count since May 7, per shipping tracking data. Oil Authority reported earlier this week that the Iran conflict has progressively constrained the global heavy crude supply chain, including the CPC Black Sea terminal suspension.

Trans Mountain Opened the Pacific Route for Alberta Barrels

Canada's capacity to route heavy crude to Asian markets grew after the Trans Mountain Pipeline expansion entered service. Canada's crude exports to Asia rose from $500 million in 2023 to $9.3 billion in 2025, a 1,700 percent increase in two years, per the Canadian Energy Centre. Trans Mountain's twinning doubled the pipeline's capacity and created Pacific tidewater access for Alberta bitumen barrels. Asian refineries designed for heavy sour crude can now receive Canadian supply directly rather than competing for constrained Middle Eastern volumes.

RBC: Asian Refineries Built for Heavy Sour Feedstocks

RBC Capital Markets analysts described Asian refineries as "force-feeding light sweet American barrels as a stopgap," per a July 2, 2026 report from the Canadian Energy Centre. Asian facilities were engineered for heavy sour Middle Eastern crude and cannot efficiently process U.S. shale-derived light sweet grades. That feedstock mismatch creates persistent structural demand for Canadian WCS whenever Middle Eastern heavy crude supply is disrupted. G7 leaders stated in their recent joint communique that member nations welcome the potential for Canada to deliver significant additional capacity to global markets.

Impact on Alberta Oil Sands Producers

Oil sands producers including Suncor Energy, Cenovus Energy, and Imperial Oil price bitumen-derived output at or near WCS. At the current $9.47 per barrel discount to WTI, producers earn roughly $5.53 more per barrel than the $15 historical average spread would imply. Oil Authority derived that figure by subtracting the current differential from the long-run average tracked by Natural Resources Canada and industry sources. The tighter spread strengthens netback economics across every barrel of WCS that Alberta operators sell and improves financial returns on planned oil sands expansion projects.