Obama Keystone Rejection Stings Oil Producers Less After Crash
- Denial of the pipeline comes as industry cuts spending
- Canada conventional oil output seen 15 percent lower by 2017
What Obama's Rejection of Keystone XL Means for Canada
This article is for subscribers only.
President Barack Obama’s rejection of the Keystone XL pipeline solidifies what the market has been saying for months -- there’s less appetite for expensive Canadian oil sands in an era of $45 crude.
The $8 billion pipeline to transport crude from Alberta to the Gulf of Mexico first proposed by TransCanada Corp. in 2008 has lost its urgency as the industry endures the worst price crash since the 1980s. Producers are shelving projects and reducing drilling, and after waiting so many years for the line’s approval, they can afford to wait longer for a new one. They’ve also found other ways to ship the oil.