THE Government of Alberta is seeking ways to boost the volume of crude oil transported by rail out of Canada as a lack of available space on pipelines out of western Canada has contributed to record low prices for the nation's crude versus international benchmarks
THE Government of Alberta is seeking ways to boost the volume of crude oil transported by rail out of Canada as a lack of available space on pipelines out of western Canada has contributed to record low prices for the nation's crude versus international benchmarks. Alberta's Premier Rachel Notley said the government is compiling a list of strategies and noted that the federal government already intervenes to regulate rail shipments of grain and other commodities, adding that more rail cars and locomotives need to be ordered.
'At this point, we are going to put together the various different strategies to increase capacity on rail,' said Ms Notley. 'Money is being taken out of the Canadian economy and sucked into American bank accounts.'
A surge of crude supply this year from Alberta oil sands exceeded export capacity, forcing shippers to turn to rail cars. The move towards rail hasn't been fast enough to keep prices from collapsing, with heavy Western Canadian Select's discount to West Texas Intermediate futures reaching US$50 in October, the widest in data compiled by Bloomberg since 2008.
Canadian Pacific Railway may match or exceed its record 2014 pace of 110,000 crude carloads next year, chief executive officer Keith Creel said in an interview from Calgary, where the company is based.
