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Alberta extends oil curtailments until end of 2020
ALBERTA
THE government of Alberta has extended its mandatory programme of curtailments on oil production in the province until the end of 2020. However, it will also raise the base curtailment limit from 10,000 barrels per day per producer to 20,000 bpd, which it said means only 16 out of over 300 producers in the province would be subject to the restrictions. Under the current programme, 29 producers are a ected.
“Without curtailment, we expect production to exceed takeaway capacity – the amount that can be shipped for export – by about 150,000 barrels per day,” the government said in an August 20 statement. “By more closely aligning production with takeaway capacity, curtailment is expected to help prevent extreme widening of the light-heavy di erential,” it added. “Without curtailment, large discounts for Canadian crude would be projected.” e government also said the new base limit would allow small produc- ers to step up both investment and production without having a “signi cant” impact on overall provincial output.
e changes are due to take e ect on October
19.
e curtailment programme was previously
due to end this December, a er being brought in by the previous New Democratic Party (NDP) government at the start of this year. e new United Conservative Party (UCP) government attributed its decision to extend the curtailments to delays to pipeline projects out of the oil sands, including Enbridge’s Line 3 replacement.
“While curtailment is far from ideal, under the current context it is necessary,” Alberta Min- ister of Energy Sonya Savage said in Calgary last week. “But we have to do this in the short term because of a lack of pipeline capacity.”
Savage also said the province was still in the process of selling the government’s CAD3.7bn ($2.8bn) crude-by-rail contracts to the private sector. e decision to sell the contracts has come under re from the NDP, which struck the deals before being ousted in April’s provincial election. Now in opposition, the NDP says the contracts would have brought about an end to curtailment this year, as had originally been planned.™
POLICY
Energy Department
announces congressionally
mandated notice of sale of
crude oil from the Strategic
Petroleum Reserve
Today, the US Department of Energy’s (DoE) O ce of Fossil Energy (FE) announced a congressionally mandated Notice of Sale
of crude oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR).
DoE plans to draw down and sell crude oil from three SPR sites – Bryan Mound and Big Hill in Texas and West Hackberry in Louisiana. is sale will ful l requirements for Section 403 of the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015 (Public Law 114-74) and the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2018 (Public Law 115-141).
Section 403 of the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015 directs the Secretary of Energy to draw
NEWS IN BRIEF
down and sell 5mn barrels of SPR crude oil in FY 2020. e Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2018 directs the Secretary of Energy to draw down and sell a total of 10mn barrels of SPR crude oil in the years 2020 and 2021. e proceeds from this sale will be deposited into the United States Treasury in FY 2020.
e notice of sale announced today includes a price-competitive sale of up to 10mn barrels of SPR crude.
US DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY, August 21, 2019
UPSTREAM
Bonterra Energy provides
update on fluid release at
Central Alberta well site
Bonterra Energy today provides an update on the previously reported release of emulsion related to a pipeline that severed on August 15, 2019 a er a creek bank collapsed as a result of area ooding approximately 25 km southwest of Drayton Valley, AB.
e company con rms that the emergency phase, which had been initiated immediately upon identi cation of the incident, has now been de-escalated by both the Alberta Energy Regulator (AER) and Bonterra. e company had deployed all possible resources with 24- hour clean-up and remediation operations, and as a result, has successfully recovered all of the bulk oil released. Over the next two
to three weeks, Bonterra will continue to perform shoreline remediation and clean-up to remove any residual trace amounts, along with further monitoring and testing of the immediately impacted area.
BONTERRA ENERGY, August 22, 2019
Houston American Energy
announces agreement to
participate in New San
Andres drilling programme
Houston American Energy today announced that it has signed an agreement to participate in a new drilling programme in the San
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Week 34 27•August•2019