Alberta is now losing as much as 36 dollars on every barrel of oil it exports because of pipeline constraints.
That’s a big reason why the federal and provincial governments continue to have problems balancing the budget.
Gary Leach with the Explorers and Producers Association of Canada says the price gap is hurting everyone.
“We’re all taking a big haircut as citizens of this province in not being able to realize the best prices for the products that we ship,” he said, “and our major products don’t go on trucks and trains, they go by pipeline.”
If more pipelines aren’t build to get Alberta oil to new markets, the Canadian Energy Research Institute says governments will be forgoing 276 billion dollars in taxes over the next two decades.
“Transportation bottlenecks, transportation distances, all contribute to us getting a discount,” said Leach.
Leach says he hopes some of the bottlenecks will be fixed this year, starting with the U.S. approving the Keystone XL pipeline.
January 4, 2013
