July 11 (Reuters) - The discount on Western Canada

Select (WCS) heavy crude versus the North American benchmark

West Texas Intermediate (WTI) widened on Thursday:

* WCS for August delivery in Hardisty, Alberta, settled at

$13.65 a barrel below WTI on Thursday, according to brokerage

CalRock, widening by 15 cents a barrel on the day below WTI.

* Refineries along the U.S. Gulf Coast, which process

Canadian crude, had limited damage and largely returned to

normal operations on Wednesday following Hurricane Beryl.

Offshore platforms in the area, which produce some medium crudes

that are also used by refineries in Gulf Coast, saw limited

damage as well.

* The District of Wells in the Canadian province of British

Columbia issued an evacuation order for some areas due to

wildfires late on Wednesday, the local authority said in a

statement.

* Last week, Suncor, Canada's second-largest oil

company, temporarily curtailed some production and evacuated

non-essential workers from its 215,000 barrel-per-day (bpd)

Firebag site because of a fire roughly eight kilometres (5

miles) away.

* In Ontario, Suncor shut down a unit at its 85,000

barrels-per-day Sarnia refinery for maintenance on Tuesday.

* Global oil prices settled slightly higher on Thursday, the

second consecutive session, as hopes rose for U.S. interest rate

cuts after data showed an unexpected slowdown in inflation.