“It just keeps getting worse.”
Cold Lake Mayor Craig Copeland was disappointed to hear Husky Energy would be shutting in hundreds of oil wells within the Lakeland, including some in the Cold Lake region.
“It’s spiralling downwards and we need to stop it and get some pipelines built," he expressed.
Mel Duvall, senior media and issues manager for Husky, confirmed in an email the company was shutting in wells "in order to comply with the curtailment order we've been given by the Alberta government."
"We're disappointed the government has taken this action and decided to interfere with free market principles," he stated.
Copeland agreed, “This is the reality of the government coming in and trying to manipulate the price of oil by taking barrels off of the market. It’s going to impact people’s lives."
Bonnyville-Cold Lake MLA Scott Cyr said those that will feel it the most are fluid haulers and their families.
According to Cyr, workers in the industry have already taken pay cuts.
"This just means we’re going to have our fluid haulers go through some really hard times, and my heart just goes out to them,” he emphasized.
Husky stressed the decision had to be made because of the province's curtailment.
"Unfortunately, companies like ourselves are having to shoulder a disproportionate share of the curtailment. The number of barrels we have to shut in is more than double the 8.7 per cent headline number the province has been using," detailed Duvall. "We're curtailing some barrels from our oil sands operation in Sunrise, north of Fort McMurray, and at our Tucker thermal project in Cold Lake. However, in order to meet our quota, we need to also shut in some of our barrels in our traditional heavy oil conventional operations, which is essentially an area that radiates out from our processing hub in Lloydminster."
He continued, "This has meant we have had to shut-in hundreds of wells in the region – wells that we had no intention of shutting in."
“I’ve been trying to tell people, Bill C-69 and the provincial and federal government have virtually killed this industry,” Copeland expressed, adding in order to get it back up and running, there's one major factor at play.
“It’s in the nation's best interest to get pipelines built in the corridor, and they need to do the right thing, to make the hard decision, and to get in there and start digging. When it’s a national interest, it’s a priority for our country."
Cyr agreed the priority for both levels of government should be "getting pipelines out in all directions."
"Once we start getting our oil to markets, you'll start seeing that we will get a better price for our oil, and with that better price, you'll see oil companies put money back into our constituency, and with that investment, we will have jobs. That's all that we want, is to be able to go to work, make a good living, be safe doing it, and environmentally sensitive as well," he stated.
Husky has informed affected employees they will "find a home for them" in other operations.
However, Duvall said they know the decision will have an impact on several third-party service providers and contractors in the area.
"We continue to work with government to convey the impacts this is having, but to-date, our quota has remained unchanged, and in fact, it was raised for February and March."
Cyr said, "I think this is a national crisis that needs to be dealt with."
