Executive Vice-Chairman of Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. Steve Laut spoke at the Fort McMurray Chamber of Commerce Luncheon on Sept. 20 about the issues the oil industry has to battle in order to improve.
“You take Keystone XL, TransMountain and Enbridge Line 3, if they all were to go, and hopefully they do, the combine would increase Canada’s export capacity by roughly 1.9 hundred barrels per day.”
Laut said that the mood in the oil and gas industry is frustration with the stalling of the pipelines.
“For the oilsands to compete and go from the sustaining current production levels that we are today to actually grow production and create hundreds of thousands of jobs, significant work is required to overcome our challenges.”
He says “the four-headed monster” or lack of market access, fiscal regulatory effectiveness, competitiveness and cost structure is blocking the future development of the oilsands.
To tame the beast, Laut says we need to reach more markets, come to a consensus with all stakeholders on projects, be competitive and keep costs down.
“Unless we tame that four-headed monster, we will with absolute certainty turn what I believe is a great Canadian success story into a made in Canada tragedy.”
He says they are counting on the federal government to get it done and get it done right adding that doing it right means working with Indigenous communities and improving environmental performance and reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
Laut said that CNRL recommends that the federal government appeal the federal court of appeal decision on Trans Mountain to restore regulator certainty while continuing working with indigenous communities.
At the luncheon he also highlighted that one of the key strengths of the oilsands is the city of Fort McMurray itself.
“Fort McMurray is a great city, with excellent services, a wide range of housing options, it’s a great place to live and raise a family,” said Laut. “One thing I’d like to point out is that there are very few major mining operations in the world that are located beside such a great city, I believe that’s a key component of the resiliency of the oilsands.”
He also thanked the leadership officials in the room for their work in the city and relationship with the Industry.
“If we tame the four headed monster, think about all the jobs that will be created, the business it’s going to have and the strength of Fort McMurray,” said Laut. “It’s a great city, it’s a strong city, its resilient and we need to make it stronger by creating more and more jobs and more development in this area, it could happen.”
Laut urges people to reach out to the Premier and Prime Minister and e-mail them in support of the Trans Mountain expansion.
