Oil Sands Help Shale Stymie OPEC's Effort to Rebalance Market
- Devon’s Jackfish, MEG Christina Lake run above capacity
- Oil sands second to shale in adding to global supply
The Athabasca oil sands near Fort McMurray, Alberta, Canada, on June 4, 2015.
Photographer: Ben Nelms/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
OPEC producers are finding that shale oil drillers aren’t their only adversaries in their battle to drain a three-year crude glut .
As oil rigs in the U.S. jumped 45 percent this year, north of the border, oil-sands companies including Devon Energy Corp., Suncor Energy Inc. and Cenovus Energy Inc. have ramped up operations as well. Their thermal production sites are running as much as 30 percent above capacity this year, squeezing barrels from existing production sites to maximize revenue.