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Pumpjacks pump crude oil near Halkirk, Alta., June 20, 2007. A pair of Calgary oil companies are cutting their dividends and reducing production because of current steep discounts on western Canadian oil prices. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Larry MacDougal CALGARY – Prices for western Canadian oil continued to strengthen on Friday as markets adjusted to a plan by the Alberta government to eliminate a glut of oil that has plagued producers for months. After hitting highs of more than US$52 per barrel in October, the discount on Western Canadian Select bitumen-blend crude versus New York-traded West Texas Intermediate settled at about US$15 per barrel on Friday, according to Net Energy. That’s a level that analysts consider to be normal or typical based on higher transportation costs and lower quality compared with WTI. A week earlier, just before Alberta Premier Rachel Notley announced the province would curtail production from large companies to remove 325,000 barrels per day of oil from its over-taxed pipelines starting Jan. 1, the WCS-WTI differential was twice as much, at US$29 per barrel. "What changed with the premier’s announcement is now there’s confidence that the market will be balanced with the cuts that are being made in the […]
