Deep Divisions Hinder Canadian Oil Patch in Fight of Its Life
- Factions sparring over idea of government-mandated output cuts
- Some producers have defected from main industry lobbying group
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Amid the worst crude-price environment in its history, the Canadian oil industry is being hamstrung by internal divisions that are making it harder to rally around potential solutions.
That draws a stark contrast to the U.S., where a less divided industry wields more clout. Most notable is the split between Canada’s pure producers, who are being devastated by plummeting local prices, and the large, integrated energy companies that have been mostly unscathed. There’s also a rift between oil-sands producers -- a target of climate-change activists around the world -- and the frackers and conventional drillers that have been suffering from the pipeline bottlenecks brought on by those environmental opponents.