CANADA — CRUDE — Discount on Western Canada Select widens again

Oct 15 (Reuters) — The discount on Western Canada Select crude oil to North American benchmark West Texas Intermediate futures widened again on Thursday. WCS for November delivery in Hardisty, Alberta, settled at $26.40 a barrel below the US benchmark WTI, compared with $25.55 on Wednesday, according to brokerage CalRock. The discount is now more than $15 wider than it was at this time last year. The widening reflects a combination of growing Venezuelan imports into the US Gulf Coast, refinery disruptions, growing oil sands production and tighter pipeline utilization, TD Cowen said in a report. The dramatic widening has been a "surprising negative" that reinforces the importance of proposed new pipeline projects to Canada additional export capacity, the report said. Brent crude was little changed on Thursday as investors weighed possible US steps to ease restrictions on the world's "shadow fleet" of tankers, while conflict in the Middle East kept a geopolitical risk premium in the market. (Reporting by Amanda Stephenson in Calgary; Editing by Perla Velasco) ((amanda.stephenson@thomsonreuters.com)