RDSA.L Share News (RDSA)

* June WCS trades at $12.30/bbl below WTI * June synthetic trades at $0.85/bbl above WTI By Nia Williams CALGARY, Alberta, May 12 (Reuters) - Canadian syntheticcrude differentials weakened slightly on Thursday as tradersanticipated more oil sands production coming back online in thenext few days, after it shut down as a result of the FortMcMurray wildfire in northern Alberta. Around 1 million barrels per day of oil sands crude was shutin over the last week because of the out-of-control fire thatswept through the region, torching parts of oil sands hub FortMcMurray and forcing some projects to evacuate workers as aprecaution. Royal Dutch Shell restarted output at its 255,000barrel per day Albian Sands mine on Monday and Suncor Energy said its 350,000 bpd base plant operations are likely torestart within days, but that other projects could be out formuch longer. CNOOC Ltd subsidiary Nexen Energy became thelatest producer to warn customers it may not be able to fulfillsupply contracts for May as a result of the fire, traders saidon Thursday. Nexen's Long Lake facility, which was producingaround 20,000 bpd, sustained minor damage from the blaze. Light synthetic crude from the oil sands for June deliverylast traded at 85 cents per barrel over the West TexasIntermediate benchmark, according to Shorcan Energy brokers.That was slightly weaker than Wednesday's premium of $1.00 perbarrel above the benchmark. Pipeline company Enbridge Inc is also in theprocess of restarting some regional oil sands pipelines andChief Executive Al Monaco said he expected volumes on itsMainline system, which carries the bulk of Canadian crudevolumes to the United States, would be affected by the drop inAlberta crude output over the last week. He added, however, that the impact would not be significantif pipeline restarts go as planned. Traders said Canadian crude differentials had not tightenedas much as some expected because volumes have been drawn fromstorage inventories in Alberta. Western Canada Select heavy blend crude for June deliverytraded at $12.30 per barrel below WTI, narrowing 20 cents fromWednesday's settle of $12.50 per barrel under the benchmark. (Editing by Matthew Lewis)