June 12 (Reuters) - The discount on Western Canada

Select (WCS) to the North American benchmark West Texas

Intermediate (WTI) futures widened on Thursday.

WCS for July delivery in Hardisty, Alberta, settled at $9.05

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

CalRock, compared with $8.90 a barrel in Wednesday's trade.

* WCS discounts had tightened last week, partly due to the

wildfire situation in Western Canada that prompted several oil

sands operations in the oil-producing province of Alberta to

evacuate workers and temporarily halt production 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.

* Oil sands producer Cenovus Energy ( CVE ) said on

Thursday it

had restarted production at its Christina Lake oil sands

facility in Alberta and added there has been no damage to its

infrastructure. Cenovus had previously declared force majeure on

its supply of Christina Lake Dil-bit heavy crude due to the

wildfires, two sources told Reuters earlier this month.

* Other Canadian oil sands companies, MEG Energy ( MEGEF )

and

Canadian Natural Resources ( CNQ ), have also moved to restore

full production capacity after wildfire-related shutdowns

earlier this month.

* Global oil prices settled slightly lower on Thursday as

traders

booked profits from a 4% rally in the prior session, driven by

concerns that worsening tensions in the Middle East could cause

supply disruptions.