June 5 (Reuters) - The discount on Western Canada Select

(WCS) to the North American benchmark West Texas Intermediate

futures (WTI) was unchanged on Thursday.

WCS for July delivery in Hardisty, Alberta, settled at $9.10

a barrel under the U.S. benchmark WTI, according to brokerage

CalRock, flat on Wednesday's close.

The discount had narrowed earlier in the week as wildfires

burning in Canada's oil-producing province of Alberta prompted

several oil sands operations to evacuate workers as a

precaution. About 344,000 barrels per day of production, or

about 7% of Canada's average daily crude production, was

disrupted as a result.

But Canada's largest crude producer, Canadian Natural

Resources ( CNQ ), has since restarted operations at its

Jackfish 1 site and has said it anticipates the site will be

back up to full production of about 36,500 bpd by Friday.

Analysts said they expect Cenovus Energy's ( CVE )

Christina Lake oil sands site to also resume full operations

soon. The company shut in about 238,000 barrels of production on

May 29, due to wildfire activity in northern Alberta.

Global oil prices settled higher on Thursday, recovering

from the previous day's drop, on news that the U.S. and China

agreed to more trade talks following a phone call between U.S.

President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping.