By rdnewsNOW staff

Notley appoints experts to work on oil price solutions for Alberta

Nov 19, 2018 | 10:22 AM

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.

“We’re fighting for the Albertans who own these resources. We’re sick of being forced to give them away for pennies on the dollar,” said Notley. “Industry is still divided on solutions, so we’re bringing the right people together to bridge those divides and propose options to closing this price gap for the benefit of all Albertans.”

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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. Notley 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.

Meantime, Notley is appointing a new Energy Upgrading Unit with the goal of bringing together government, industry, workers and Albertans to supercharge energy diversification across the province.

The province says in a release that the team, which will report to the premier’s office, will capitalize on work the government began in 2016 to kick-start energy diversification that has created thousands of jobs and attracted billions of dollars in new private-sector investment.

“Alberta is a world leader in energy with the expertise and innovation to refine our energy into products the world needs. Instead of shipping jobs south, we’re going to keep them here, where they belong,” Notley said. “This made-in-Alberta upgrading strategy will help us take control of our future by making sure Albertans get more value from the resources they own.”

A $3.5-billion petrochemical processing complex is under construction northeast of Edmonton that will upgrade Alberta natural gas into plastics.