Western Canadian Select Price Today

Western Canadian Select (WCS) is the benchmark price for Canadian heavy crude oil, a blend of heavy conventional and oil sands bitumen with a diluent of sweet synthetic and condensate. With an API gravity of about 20.5 degrees and sulfur content around 3.5%, WCS is classified as heavy-sour crude, requiring specialized (complex) refineries with coking capacity to process. Canada is the world's fourth-largest oil producer, with the majority of its output coming from the Athabasca oil sands in Alberta. WCS typically trades at a significant discount to WTI, known as the WCS differential, which reflects quality differences and transportation costs. Pipeline capacity constraints — particularly before the completion of the Trans Mountain Expansion — have historically caused the WCS discount to widen dramatically. The completion of major pipeline projects and growing U.S. Gulf Coast refinery demand for heavy crude have been key factors in narrowing this differential.