As the U.S. oil industry reels from the collapsing oil prices, Canada’s oil business is seeing its oil prices rallying. How can that be? It is the result of strong political intervention in Alberta’s oil business in an attempt to save it from devastation. When the oil price differential between Western Canadian Select and West Texas Intermediate swelled to $52 a barrel in November, the impending devastation of the Canadian oil industry demanded swift and decisive action. It was delivered, although somewhat reluctantly, and only after an earlier proposed solution failed to change the oil market sentiment. Following an OPEC-like production cut, the oil price differential has shrunk to only $16.60 a barrel, in line with what existed last spring. How the Canadian oil industry got into this mess […]