Oil sands crude fetches premium price

[CHIMO]

Fires at a pair of major oil sands plants have created a bonanza for companies still in operation, as prices for some Canadian crude rocket to levels far above $100 (U.S.) per barrel.

Synthetic crude – produced by oil sands companies such as Suncor Energy Inc., Royal Dutch Shell PLC, Nexen Inc. and Syncrude Canada Ltd. – is fetching a premium of more than $15 over West Texas Intermediate, the benchmark U.S. crude that closed above $100 yesterday for the first time since October, 2008. Historically, the price for synthetic crude has stayed roughly level with WTI.

That means those companies producing synthetic crude are getting more than $115 per barrel of product sold this week, a huge windfall on top of already surging oil prices. Turmoil in the Middle East continues to stir uncertainty in global crude markets – and deliver increasingly fatter margins to oil producers.

Gross revenue for Canadian Oil Sands Trust, for example, which owns 36.74 per cent of Syncrude, is boosted by $31-million for each $1 annual rise in the price of a barrel of crude.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/industry-news/energy-and-resources/oil-sands-crude-fetches-premium-price/article1927609/