Oil production to be increased
Posted Mar 18, 2019 7:22 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
The province has announced that they are once again allowing an increase in the amount of oil that can be produced.
It says production levels in May will increase by 25-thousand barrels a day and 25-thousand more in June, which will bring the total to 3.71 million barrels per day.
The increase, since production was curtailed on January 1, is now 150-thousand barrels a day.
The province says the limits are based on monitoring a number of indicators and recognizing that less diluent is needed in warmer weather for bitumen to flow in pipelines, meaning more capacity.
In a statement, Premier Rachel Notley says they hope to provide more certainty for producers who have been working with them to protect jobs.
“This temporary policy has been critical to reducing the oil price differential while we move ahead with our medium-term plan to ship more oil by rail and lead the long-term charge for new pipelines as we fight to get full value for the resources owned by all Albertans,” said Notley.
The province says the increased production limits will match what can be shipped via pipeline and rail.
Its crude-by-rail program is scheduled to start shipments in July, ramping up to 120,000 barrel-a-day shipments by 2020.
The curtailment was brought in to lessen the price differential for Western Canadian Select against oil sold on world markets.
