The Financial Post reports in its Thursday, Aug. 8, edition that the difference in pricing between U.S. and Canadian oil may fluctuate slightly but is likely to avoid significant volatility of the past due to the start of Canada's newest oil pipeline, a top Suncor Energy official said on Wednesday. The Post's Naimul Karim writes that the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion (TMX), which officially opened on May 1 and connects Alberta and the B.C. coast, helped Canada's oil producers get better prices and cut the differential between Canadian and U.S. oil in the second quarter. Suncor chief financial officer Kris Smith said on a conference call to discuss the company's second quarter earnings: "TMX certainly provides structural help. That said you are still going to see that light-heavy differential move around a little bit depending on what's going on in the market. ... Our view is that we are going to continue to see that differential be supported in the low to mid-teens." MEG Energy said last week that it expects the differential to be within a range of $10 (U.S.) to $15 (U.S.) in the long term. The differential, though, has grown wider since the quarter ended due to refinery outages, surprising some analysts.