Alberta is working to buy railcars to help ship more crude as pipeline bottlenecks have the oil-rich province grappling with historic low prices.
The province has engaged a third party to negotiate the purchases, and a deal may be struck “within weeks,” Premier Rachel Notley said Nov. 28 in a speech in Ottawa. The province’s costs will be fully recouped through royalties and the selling of shipping capacity, she said.
“Don’t mistake me — this is not the long-term answer,” Notley said. “It absolutely is not. New pipelines are the long-term answer.”
Notley’s proposal is one of several put forward by government and industry officials to boost Canadian oil prices by increasing the amount that can flow to refineries in the United States and elsewhere. Some producers have begun to curb output — and asked the government to mandate cuts ☺— after prices fell to as much as $50 a barrel below the U.S. benchmark. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau took the unusual step of buying a pipeline project earlier this year to help get enough transport capacity.
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