美国炼油厂料将恢复大量购买加拿大原油

据油价网2022年9月20日报道，交易商和分析师对路透社表示，由于政府10月结束战略石油储备（SPR）原油出售计划后，美国炼厂料将恢复大量购买加拿大原油，加拿大原油价格届时可能很快出现提振。 

美国政府3月批准在未来6个月内每天从SPR释放100万桶原油，以降低油价，并可能通过与公司签订未来以固定价格购买石油的合同来提高国内原油产量。 

由于6个月内释放的1.8亿桶SPR原油主要是含硫原油，今年夏天，西加拿大精选原油（WCS）相对于美国基准WT原油的折让幅度有所扩大。WCS是在艾伯塔省哈迪斯蒂交付的加拿大油砂原油的基准价格。

美国此次SPR原油的释放将在10月份结束，美国炼油厂将增加从加拿大和其他含硫和重质原油生产国的原油进口。 

大宗商品数据提供商Kpler美洲首席石油分析师Matt Smith对路透社表示：“当SPR原油释放结束后，美国炼油厂将再次更加依赖加拿大原油或海运原油进口。”

分析师说，这将缩小加拿大原油基准价格相对于美国基准价格的折让幅度。 

今年夏天，WCS的折让幅度已扩大至每桶比WTI原油低20美元。根据艾伯塔省能源监管机构的数据，去年WTI-WCS的平均价差为每桶12.78美元。在地缘政治冲突和美国为应对高油价而释放SPR原油引起的市场动荡之前，该监管机构曾预计WTI-WCS的价差今年平均每桶为14美元。 

李峻 编译自油价网

原文如下：

U.S. Refiners May Soon Purchase More Canadian Crude

Oil Price.com

September 20, 2022

Canada’s benchmark heavy oil price could soon see a boost as U.S. refiners are expected to return to buying large volumes of Canadian crude once the massive releases from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) by the Administration end in October, traders and analysts tell Reuters.

The U.S. Administration authorized in March the release of 1 million barrels per day (bpd) from the SPR over a period of six months in a bid to lower oil prices and potentially boost domestic production through contracts with companies to purchase future oil at fixed prices. The SPR releases are a response to the disruption of global oil markets that have led to soaring oil and gas prices.  

Since the 180-million-barrel SPR release over six months is mostly of sour crude, 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 has widened this summer. 

With the expected end of the SPR releases next month, U.S. refiners are set to boost imports of crude from Canada and from other producers of sour and heavier crudes. 

“When the SPR releases finish, these refiners will look to lean harder again on Canadian barrels or seaborne imports,” Matt Smith, lead oil analyst for the Americas at Kpler, told Reuters.  

This would narrow the discount of the Canadian oil benchmark to the U.S. benchmark, analysts say.

This summer, the WCS discount has widened to $20 per barrel below WTI. Last year, the WTI-WCS price differential averaged $12.78 per barrel, according to the Alberta Energy Regulator. Before the market turmoil caused by the war and the SPR releases in the U.S. in response to the high oil prices, the regulator expected the WTI-WCS price differential to average $14.00 per barrel this year.