Insight
Canada's Oil Sands: enduring the worst of the storm in Q4 2018
Report summary
Q4 2018 was a tough time to be an oil sands producers. Western Canadian Select (WCS) prices hit record monthly lows in November and December. The Alberta government intervened to address the low prices and mandated a production curtailment for 2019. Although prices were depressed, the oil sands reached record production during Q4, led by strong growth from mining projects. Oil sands producers were dealt an additional blow in March 2019 when Enbridge announced its Line 3 pipeline project in-service date would be delayed from Q4 2019 to H2 2020.
Table of contents
- Executive summary
- Benchmark crude prices
- WCS prices
- Bitumen and SCO realisations
- In situ production
-
Curtailment
- Mining production
- Operating costs
- Crude by rail
- Other significant events
- Enbridge Line 3 replacement project delayed
- NEB approves Trans Mountain expansion pipeline, again
- Aspen FID – Imperial Oil
- Husky abandons hostile bid for MEG Energy
- Devon looks to exit Canada
- Pengrowth begins strategic review
- Connacher sale to East River falls through
- Creative financing
Tables and charts
This report includes 12 images and tables including:
- Benchmark pricing
- Benchmark price performance
- Historic WCS prices
- Realised bitumen prices
- In situ projects producing >35 kb/d
- In situ projects producing <35 kb/d
- Curtailment - In situ projects producing > 30 kb/d
- Curtailment - In situ projects producing < 30 kb/d
- Mining project production
- Mining & upgrading operating costs
- In Situ operating costs
- Crude by rail
What's included
This report contains:
