From an Reuters’ article I found today:
“Given the current situation in the financial markets what we are doing is announcing a change in how we execute this project. We are not mothballing it, we’re not stopping it … We believe this will give us reduced risk on a go-forward basis and increased flexibility.” – Suncor CEO Rick George (Source)
Everything else appears to be in the toilet, so it should be no surprise that the oilsands projects are adjusting how they do business. However, when we look behind the curtian, we see some interesting items. First, the above quote from Rick George, the Chief Executive of Suncor, points out that the financial markets have changed how they execute. This is because of the availabilty of credit. The fundamaentals of the project are still strong, they’re just having to do a cost/benefit of persuing development against the cost of financing and the costs of materials and labour.
As the Chamberlains pointed out, the demand for Canadian oil, and from the oilsands in particular, is not going to abate any time soon, and the global outlook for reliable sources of oil is looking a little dodgy. And while oilsands growth may be slowing slightly, Danielle Millar pointed out that conventional drilling is picking up (Alberta Goverment economic forecasts)
Anyone want more good news?
