Department of Economics and Finance University of Guelph Discussion Paper 2018-04 Pipeline capacity and the dynamics of Alberta crude oil price spreads By: Gregory Galay Henry Thille University of Guelph University of Guelph
[email protected] [email protected] DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMICS AND FINANCE UNIVERSITY OF GUELPH GUELPH ONTARIO CANADA N1G 2W1 519-824-4120 www.uoguelph.ca/economics Pipeline capacity and the dynamics of Alberta crude oil price spreads* Gregory Galay Henry Thille Department of Economics & Finance Department of Economics & Finance University of Guelph University of Guelph E-mail:
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[email protected] August 7, 2018 Abstract From 2011 until the end of 2014, a larger than normal price spread emerged be- tween West Texas Intermediate (WTI) and Western Canadian Select (WCS). This led many participants in Canada's energy sector to advocate for the expansion of Canada's crude oil pipeline system as they believed that excess supply could not be moved from production regions in Northern Alberta to those markets that would yield the highest return. This article considers the impact constrained transportation capacity has on the price spread between WCS and other world prices such as WTI. A Markov-switching model is used to identify regimes associated with binding/non-binding pipeline capac- ity. Our results confirm the predictions of models of spatial arbitrage under capacity constraints. When there is sufficient transportation capacity the price spreads reflect transport costs (includes fees, insurance, etc.) plus any premium for the quality differ- ence between the crude oils compared. However, during periods of tight capacity the spread becomes more volatile and on average exceeds transport costs plus the quality premium.