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Barack Obama`s climate-change strategy is looking so bad for the fossil fuels industry that processing heavy oil in Alberta is looking good again.
That`s the view of Ian MacGregor, chairman of North West Upgrading Inc., the only proposed heavy oil upgrader still making progress after last year`s raft of cancellations.
Low oil prices, high costs, tight credit markets, and fiscal uncertainty caused StatoilHydro ASA, Petro-Canada and BA Energy Inc. to shelve multi-billion-dollar plans to build special refineries to process bitumen from the oil sands, disappointing the Alberta government, which would like to see 75% of bitumen upgraded in the province.
But many oil sands developers have opted to send their bitumen to the United States, where refineries to handle Canadian oil could be retooled at lower cost than building anew in the province.
Now, Mr. MacGregor said the United States is losing its advantage as a centre to process Canadian bitumen.
"I think the [carbon dioxide] regulations that are being planned in the U. S. might cause people to revisit those plans," Mr. MacGregor said in an interview. "There are pretty significant taxes being talked about, in the order of $5 to $10 per barrel of bitumen."
Meanwhile, the U. S. can`t match Alberta`s unique geology, in which greenhouse gases can be turned into a source of revenue.
Read the full article here.
That`s the view of Ian MacGregor, chairman of North West Upgrading Inc., the only proposed heavy oil upgrader still making progress after last year`s raft of cancellations.
Low oil prices, high costs, tight credit markets, and fiscal uncertainty caused StatoilHydro ASA, Petro-Canada and BA Energy Inc. to shelve multi-billion-dollar plans to build special refineries to process bitumen from the oil sands, disappointing the Alberta government, which would like to see 75% of bitumen upgraded in the province.
But many oil sands developers have opted to send their bitumen to the United States, where refineries to handle Canadian oil could be retooled at lower cost than building anew in the province.
Now, Mr. MacGregor said the United States is losing its advantage as a centre to process Canadian bitumen.
"I think the [carbon dioxide] regulations that are being planned in the U. S. might cause people to revisit those plans," Mr. MacGregor said in an interview. "There are pretty significant taxes being talked about, in the order of $5 to $10 per barrel of bitumen."
Meanwhile, the U. S. can`t match Alberta`s unique geology, in which greenhouse gases can be turned into a source of revenue.
Read the full article here.