CANADA-CRUDE-Discount on Western Canada Select widens

Dec 2 (Reuters) - The discount on Western Canada Select to North American benchmark West Texas Intermediate futures CLc1 widened on Tuesday.

WCS for January delivery in Hardisty, Alberta, settled at $12.95 a barrel below the U.S. benchmark WTI, according to brokerage CalRock, compared to $12.75 on Monday.

• The WCS discount is at its widest point since March.

• The recent weakening has been driven by widening differentials for global heavy crudes, which is not abnormal during shoulder season, said Rory Johnston, founder of the Commodity Context newsletter.

• But the WCS discount remains broadly supported, as it has been all year, by sufficient export pipeline capacity out of Canada. While Enbridge's Mainline is apportioned — an industry term for when demand for pipeline space exceeds capacity — the Trans Mountain pipeline, Canada's only oil export pipeline with direct access to overseas markets, is not.

• Historically, constraints in oil export capacity have had a negative impact on Canadian oil prices relative to major global benchmarks.

• Oil prices declined 1% on Tuesday as markets weighed faltering Russia-Ukraine peace hopes against fears of oversupply.