Experts to work with energy industry on oil price solutions for Alberta
Posted November 19, 2018 2:13 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
EDMONTON — Alberta Premier Rachel Notley has appointed three experts to work with the energy industry to find ways to close an oil price gap that is costing Canada tens of millions a day.
Notley says the Canadian economy is losing $80 million every day because oil from Alberta is selling about $45 a barrel less than West Texas Intermediate in the United States.
She says that’s because there is an oversupply of Alberta oil due to a lack of pipeline capacity to move it to markets.
Notley calls the price gap a “real and present” danger that has to be addressed in the long term with more pipelines.
The premier is travelling to Ottawa and Toronto next week to make her case.
The experts are Robert Skinner of the University of Calgary’s School of Public Policy, deputy energy minister Coleen Volk and Brian Topp, Notley’s former chief of staff and a policy consultant.
She is giving them two to four weeks to report back to her.
Last week, Cenovus Energy and Canadian Natural Resources called for government-imposed temporary cuts until the oil glut clears up, but Suncor Energy and Husky Energy have rejected the idea.
Companies in this story (TSX: CVE, CNQ, SU, HSE)
The Canadian Press
