CANADA CRUDE-Differentials rise on Fort McMurray wildfire outages

* June WCS trades at $12.95/bbl below WTI * June synthetic trades at $0.75/bbl above WTI (Adds analyst quote, updates prices) By Nia Williams CALGARY, Alberta, May 4 (Reuters) - Canadian cash crudedifferentials climbed on Wednesday as a wildfire raging in FortMcMurray in the heart of Alberta's oil sands region forced someprojects to cut production so workers could evacuate. The city's population of around 88,000 was ordered to leaveimmediately on Tuesday evening as the fire breached city limitsand ripped through some neighborhoods. Although the blaze is not directly threatening any oil sandsfacilities, Suncor Energy Inc said it was reducingregional production and Royal Dutch Shell PLC said itwas shutting down its two oil sands mines. Other companies operating nearby including Canadian NaturalResources Ltd and CNOOC Ltd subsidiary NexenEnergy said their operations were not affected. The reduced oil sands production helped prop up benchmarkCanadian cash grades, as well as put a support under globalprices, though analysts and traders said the boost would likelybe short lived. "My feeling is that this has minimal impact on productionlonger term," said Tim Pickering, founder and chief investmentofficer at Auspice Capital Advisors in Calgary. "When we thinkabout taking production offline, there's still a significantamount of oil in storage. That's a big cushion." Light synthetic crude from the oil sands for June deliverylast traded at 75 cents per barrel above the West TexasIntermediate benchmark, climbing from a 5-cent discountthe previous day. Western Canada Select heavy blend crude for June deliverylast traded at $12.95 a barrel under the benchmark after tradingas much as $12.80 a barrel discount, according to Shorcan Energybrokers. It settled on Tuesday at $13.35 per barrel under WTI. (Additional reporting by Catherine Ngai in New York; Editing byJames Dalgleish and Meredith Mazzilli)