Alberta Premier Jason Kenney and Energy Minister Sonya Savage The premier of Alberta, Canada’s top oil-producing province, said Wednesday that the end of a government-imposed curtailment on oil production could come earlier than its December 2020 sunset date. “We hope it will end by this time next year at the latest,” Premier Jason Kenney told Reuters during an interview in Houston, where he met with executives from Chevron Corp , Phillips 66 , other oil pipeline and private equity firms. Alberta introduced mandatory oil production curbs on Jan. 1, 2019, to reduce a crude glut that depressed regional prices. It has relaxed some limits to allow for more output and to try and stimulate more drilling and investment. When the curtailment was begun, Western Canadian Select (WCS) crude oil was selling at a $50-a-barrel discount to U.S. crude oil. The limits have improved selling prices, with the discount to U.S. crude on Wednesday at $21.25-a-barrel for December delivery. Growth in demand for Canadian crude should increase because of new projects like Enbridge’s Line 3 pipeline replacement which could carry more than 300,000 bpd from Alberta to Chicago in 2021, said Kenney. Conventional crude accounts for 16% of the province’s […]
