Alberta Premier Rachel Notley is proposing Ottawa get into the crude-by-rail business.
She says Alberta heavy oil producers have been dealing with a punishing price gap between their product and U.S. light oil.
Today, Ottawa announced they're writing off $2.6 billion paid to the auto-industry in Ontario…
Surely, they can support our oil industry with smart investments to help close the punishing price differential and get billions back in the Canadian economy.#KeepCanadaWorking #ableg pic.twitter.com/QrxxvDG5lC— Rachel Notley (@RachelNotley) October 22, 2018
She says that amounts to money being taken out of the Canadian economy and sucked into American bank accounts.
The differential is about US$40 a barrel and has been as high as $52 in recent weeks.
Notley says new coastal pipelines to get access to international markets are necessary in the long term to get Alberta producers a better price.
https://twitter.com/Tommy_Slick/status/1054475995518881792
In the meantime, she says, Ottawa should look to invest in moving oil to market on rail cars.
“We are in the midst of putting together a specific business case that we’ll be taking to the federal government late this week, early next week, where we lay out the specific costs,” Notley said Monday after a meeting with oil and gas industry leaders.
She said more rail cars and locomotives are needed, but she didn’t have the potential number or cost at her fingertips.
https://twitter.com/Tommy_Slick/status/1054478928817975296
