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Image: Joey Podlubny/JWN CALGARY — The National Energy Board says crude by rail exports from Canada rose to a record 327,229 bbls/d in October. That’s up more than 21 per cent from 269,829 in September and represents the first time exports by rail have exceeded 300,000 barrels per day — in October 2017, only 137,000 bbls/d left the country in railcars. Full export pipelines are blamed for a glut of oil in Western Canada that has pressed down the price for heavy oil benchmark Western Canadian Select. WCS reached a discount of US$50 per barrel less than New York benchmark West Texas Intermediate in October. Those differentials have narrowed to around US$15 per barrel since the government of Alberta announced in early December it would impose crude oil production curtailments of 325,000 bbls/d starting Jan. 1. The province has also promised to buy as many as 80 locomotives and 7,000 rail tankers to help move oil to markets starting in late 2019. Oilsands giant Suncor Energy Inc. warned last week that the tighter differentials have made crude-by-rail shipping “uneconomic.” Analysts estimate it costs about US$20 per barrel to ship Canadian oil by rail to markets on the U.S. Gulf […]
