Energy executives are heartened by recent developments, but realize the industry’s all-clear signal has yet to be sounded. Last year, the lack of adequate pipeline and rail export capacity to handle growing oil output drove the discount for Canadian oil prices from those in the U.S. prices to nearly $52 per barrel. The discount drove Canadian wellhead prices below $10 per barrel, well below breakeven levels, and cost the industry and the Alberta province billions in revenues. For the province, the impact was both from lost royalties along with smaller corporate income tax collections. The oil export cap resulted from years of conflict between Alberta and its neighbor to the west, British Columbia, but equally due to the province’s conflict with the federal government’s environmental policies. The root of opposition to new pipelines was the green agendas in rising in BC and Ottawa, which are predicated on the desire […]