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Alberta Premier Rachel Notley. Image: Government of Alberta EDMONTON — Premier Rachel Notley is ordering a mandatory cut to oil production to deal with a price crisis she says threatens to gut Alberta’s bedrock industry. Notley announced the province will impose across-the-board cuts amounting to 8.7 per cent of output to reduce a growing glut of oil that is forcing Alberta oil to sell at steep discounts compared with the North American benchmark. “In the last few weeks, this price gap has reached historic highs,” Notley said Sunday in a speech timed to run live on supper-hour newscasts in Alberta. Roughly speaking, Notley said, while the rest of the world sells its oil at about $50 per barrel, Alberta fetches only $10. “We are essentially giving our oil away for free.” Fire-sale prices have led to concerns the oilpatch will have to find savings elsewhere in the coming weeks and months by slashing capital spending or jobs. Notley said the 8.7 per cent reduction begins in January, with the expectation that figure will gradually decrease until the cuts are scheduled to end on Dec. 31, 2019. “This is a short term measure,” she said. Output of raw crude oil […]
