Heavy oil discount narrows slightly

The discount on Western Canada Select (WCS) heavy crude versus the North American benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) narrowed marginally on Friday:

* WCS for May delivery in Hardisty, Alberta, traded at $11.75 a barrel below WTI, according to brokerage CalRock, after closing at $11.90 a barrel below the benchmark on Thursday.

* Canadian heavy crude has traded at a discount of less than $12 a barrel to WTI since the start of this month's trade cycle on Wednesday, when the 590,000 barrel per day Trans Mountain pipeline expansion (TMX) also started commercial operations.

* Oil sands producers, including Canadian Natural Resources Ltd CNQ and Cenovus Energy CVE this week said TMX will benefit the entire industry.

* Many analysts expect the pipeline will help tighten heavy crude differentials to less than $10 a barrel below WTI by removing export pipeline bottlenecks and forcing U.S. refiners to compete with global buyers for Canadian barrels.

* Global oil prices settled lower and posted their steepest weekly loss in three months as investors weighed weak U.S. jobs data and the possible timing of a Federal Reserve interest rate cut.