CANADA CRUDE-Synthetic rises on upgrader maintenance, higher demand

(Removes reference to synthetic price arbitrage being open in second paragraph)

By Nia Williams

CALGARY, Alberta, April 1 (Reuters) - Canadian synthetic crude prices strengthened on Wednesday, the first day of trading May barrels, as maintenance on oil sands upgraders in northern Alberta cut supply to the market.

Expectations that Enbridge Inc (Toronto: ENB.TO - news) 's Line 9 pipeline will begin service in the second quarter also helped demand for synthetic.

The newly-reversed Line 9 will carry 300,000 barrels per day of mainly sweet and synthetic crude from Sarnia, Ontario, to Montreal, Quebec.

Light (Other OTC: LGSXY - news) synthetic crude from the oil sands for May delivery last traded at $2.75 per barrel above the West Texas Intermediate benchmark, according to Shorcan Energy brokers.

That compares with a settlement on Tuesday of $2.25 per barrel above the benchmark.

Upgrader turnarounds at Royal Dutch Shell (Xetra: R6C1.DE - news) and the joint-venture Syncrude oil sands project are taking place in the second quarter, while Suncor Energy Inc (Toronto: SU.TO - news) also has maintenance scheduled at its facilities.

Upgraders convert mined bitumen into refinery-ready synthetic crude.

Western Canada Select heavy blend for May delivery last traded at $12.55 per barrel below the benchmark, little changed from the previous day when it changed hands at $12.50 per barrel below WTI. (Editing by Grant McCool)