Canada’s benchmark heavy crude, normally among the cheapest grades in North America, has risen above US$100 a barrel for the first time since 2008 as the U.S. ponders a ban on imports of Russian oil. 

Western Canadian Select rose US$2.70 to US$100.10 a barrel at 10:11 a.m. in Calgary, according to NE2 Group data. 

The global oil market had its biggest daily swing ever, with Brent crude surging to nearly US$140 early Monday in London, after the U.S. said it was considering a ban on Russian crude imports in retaliation for the invasion of Ukraine. Heavy Canadian crude is a potential substitute for Russian fuel oil that’s shipped to the U.S.

WCS normally trades at a discount to West Texas Intermediate of more than US$10 to US$15 a barrel due to its heavy nature and the fact that it’s produced in landlocked Alberta, requiring pipeline or rail transportation through thousands of miles to U.S. refineries. It surpassed US$100 even as its discount to a WTI monthly average widened 25 cents to US$13 a barrel. 

Oil’s rally is helping Alberta, which holds the world’s third-largest crude reserves, to reduce its budget deficits and revive an economy that has been struggling since the market crash of 2014.