CALGARY, Alberta, Nov 14 (Reuters) - Canadian heavy crudeprices pulled back after hitting a two-week high on Thursday,although losses were expected to be limited after BP Plc started up a new coker at its Whiting, Indiana, refinery.
Western Canada Select heavy blend for December delivery lasttraded at $36.50 per barrel below the West Texas Intermediatebenchmark, according to Shorcan Energy brokers.
That was down from a settlement price of $34.35 per barrelbelow the benchmark on Wednesday, the narrowest differentialsince Oct. 28, but markedly stronger than the 10-month low of$41.50 below WTI hit on Nov. 5.
The 102,000 barrel-per-day (bpd) Whiting coker, which beganthe lengthy start-up process earlier this week but may not reachfull rates until next year, is a milestone in a $4 billionoverhaul of the refinery to allow it to run mostly heavyCanadian crude.
Traders said the coker start-up had helped WCS recoversharply from last week's trough, and losses on Thursday werelikely to be the result of position adjustment in the final daysof the November trading window.
The biggest gains were seen in WCS for January delivery,which strengthened to trade at $29.50 per barrel below WTI.
David Bouckhout, senior commodities strategist at TDSecurities, said WCS prices had also found technical supportafter slipping below $40 per barrel below WTI, which wouldequate to an outright price of around $54.
"BP is what we see as driving the market, as well as purelevels. The outright price for WCS, if it's anywhere from $50 to$60, over the last couple of years that has certainly been apretty big floor for prices," Bouckhout said.
News that Citgo Petroleum Corp partially restarted a crudeunit at its fire-damaged Lemont refinery should also help liftheavy crude prices, he added.
Light synthetic crude from the oil sands for Decemberdelivery weakened slightly to trade at $14.25 per barrel belowWTI, compared with a settlement price of $13.55 below thebenchmark on Wednesday.
BP (BP.)