Obama no threat to oil sands: Canadian Natural Resources
Carrie Tait, Financial Post
November 11, 2008
CALGARY -- Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. does not expect US president-elect Barack Obama to implement policies that would crush Alberta's oil sands industry, even though he made anti-oil promises on the campaign trail.
Réal Cusson, senior vice-president of marketing, made the assertion while explaining that it is cheaper for oil sands companies to ship their bitumen to refineries on the U.S. Gulf Coast for processing than it would be to build new upgraders in Alberta.
"There's always a difference between what's been said in a campaign versus the realities of governing," he said. "We believe the Canadian barrels are friendly barrels right next door that can be delivered in a very reliable way to the U.S. refiners, and it should continue to be that way."
Mr. Obama pledged to wean America off fossil fuels, particularly the country's addiction to "dirty, dwindling and expensive oil," interpreted as a strike against Alberta's oil sands. Renewable energy was a staple of his campaign.
"We do have some concerns over some of the statements that have been made, but we will wait and see what the reality is when they are actually in power," Mr. Cusson told the Financial Post after speaking to a group of investors at a conference in Calgary. "It is difficult to imagine the U.S. would be willing to invest billions of dollars for all sorts of energy products, and somehow would not want to take friendly delivered barrels by pipeline to the U.S. Gulf Coast refiners.
"We are observing, but we are not particularly concerned at this stage," he said.
Refineries in the U.S. Gulf Coast are already capable of processing heavy oil, allowing them to avoid any big investments that would be necessary to process bitumen from northern Alberta. Upgraders, however, turn heavy oil into synthetic crude which still has to go to a refinery to be processed products such as gasoline.
Producers have delayed construction on a string of upgraders in Alberta as they grapple with soaring costs and plummeting oil prices.
