Mining’s old guard needs strong medicine
A new report details subpar investor returns in the mining industry over the last decade, particularly big cap diversified companies which have not adapted to new realities.
Canadian Natural Resources said on Tuesday its Horizon oil sands operation has resumed production after a seven month gap caused by a fire.
The Calgary-based company said expects to reach full capacity of 110,000 barrels per day of syncrude – a light oil manufactured from bitumen – by next week. The Horizon outage led to a shortage of syncrude which helped Alberta’s producers attract a premium of $18 above benchmark US oil.
That premium is now shrinking and is set to return to normal levels of a slight discount. Last week the spread between US crude and North Sea Brent reached a record margin of $26 a barrel. Western Canada Select in turn trades at $13 a barrel below US levels which on Tuesday was $84 a barrel.
Canadian Natural Resources president Steve Laut said earlier in the month: “When we bring Horizon on, I would expect that premium to shrink – and we normally get about a $1 discount.” The company is also planning to more than double capacity at Horizon at a cost of $2 billion.
Canada exports 2 million barrels Canada exports two million barrels of crude to the US per day of which 1.5m come from Alberta’s oil sands. The strength of the Canadian currency erodes further the prices attained by oil sands producers. The Canadian currency was trading at US$1.01 on Tuesday versus recent highs of $1.06 and has strengthened by over 12% in two years. The loonie hit a low of 78c to the greenback at the start of 2009.
Canada’s oil industry is betting on two massive pipeline projects to take its oil to world markets where it can attain a better price. The Northern Gateway project could send 220 tankers laden with crude to markets in Asia via a port in British Columbia if go-ahead is received to built the pipeline from Alberta’s interior to the coast. The Keystone XL pipeline, which would take Canadian oil to refineries on the US Gulf Coast could also up prices for oil sands products. A decision on Keystone which now lies with the White House is expected in November.
3 Comments
Biddulph Art
In light of what is happening in europe and the usa canada needs to get ouur oil and gas to the asin market, the sooner the beter.
Thermalwork
Many people do not like the oil industry.
It has it’s many detriments in the form of environmental damage realised in numerous ways and every person on this planet is interconnected to the consumption of oil products in some way or another.
It would be nice to see the oil and gas industry slowly fade away and be replaced with alternatives but truth is, the substance has too many valuable benifits other than use as energy for the car you drive and fuel for planes and heating oils and all the uses of oil that cause obvious pollution and environmental damage……so we are more than hooked on it.
They can build all the electric cars and wind turbines and hydro electric power facilties and solar power facilities they want but people have to realise and understand that those energy supply industries can not be accomplished without the oil and gas industries and the related petrochemeical industries before hand.
50 years from now you are going to see the era of other alternative energies in full swing and the many amazing technological advances that reduce the pollution and environmential damage seen by the burning of fossil fuels.
However, it can not be done without the oil and gas and related petrochemical industries that feed the ability to creat advanced materials and the means to produce the machinery and equipment that replaces the energy supply aspect of oil and gas.
Our dependance on oil and gas will be all the more, not less.
Wi59do
process alberta oil in alberta