The Financial Post reports in its Wednesday edition that cracks in the global oil market are spreading across the Rocky Mountains and U.S. Great Plains as demand for a shrinking pool of accessible crude escalates. A Bloomberg dispatch to the Post says that oil grades from Texas and North Dakota to Alberta are surging as refiners compete with rivals in Asia and Europe for barrels after weeks of strangled shipments via the Strait of Hormuz. Bakken oil traded at the Clearbrook, Minn., hub shot up to an $18 premium to the monthly average of West Texas Intermediate on Monday, compared with a $1.20 discount the day before the Iran war erupted on Feb. 28 (all figures U.S.). "It's all about U.S. exports," said Dennis Kissler, head of energy trading at BOK Financial Securities. "We're going to be exporting a ton of crude, that's what's keeping WTI elevated." In Canada, synthetic crude produced by processing oil sands bitumen, traded at a $19.90 premium to WTI, up from $1 a month ago. U.S. and Canadian oil is increasingly being drawn to coastal markets for export, tightening local spot supplies. One crude grade that is not surging is Western Canadian Select. The discount to a monthly average of WTI widened to $16.25 from $14.65.