Despite falling oil prices, mounting global consensus on climate change, a 32% drop in investment, and a provincial government royalty review, RBC Dominion Securities still suggests strong prospects for Canada’s tar sands/oil sand industry in a recent market report.
“A number of high-probability projects gives RBC analyst Mark Friesen ‘the confidence that capital spending will remain robust throughout the rest of this decade,’” the Financial Post reports. “Growth will be concentrated in the 10 most active oilsands producers, such as Suncor Energy Inc., Canadian Natural Resources Ltd., and Imperial Oil Ltd.”
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Those companies “are spearheading projects that will boost production by an additional 1.4 million barrels per day—higher than Algeria or the United Kingdom’s total crude oil production.”
With Alberta’s new government looking to “wring more revenues from the energy sector,” Hussain quotes executives from CNRL and Cenovus Energy Inc. warning that “capital is mobile and investors are averse to instability.” Cenovus spokesperson Brett Harris wrote that the province must “remain fiscally competitive to keep investment and jobs from flowing out of the province to other jurisdictions.”