New risks squeeze Alberta’s oil sands

Canada's oil sands face collapsing oil prices, limited export routes and higher taxes

Alberta’s oil sands developers dismissed the onslaught of environmentalists for over a decade, but now they face much graver threats: a collapsing oil price, limited export routes and higher taxes. Calgary hardly blinked during the 2008-09 oil-price fall but this time things are different. Home to the marginal barrel, the oil sands are now the collateral victims of the global supply-glut and the market’s downturn. Even without the slide in prices, executives say the investment climate is worsening. New rules on emissions, higher corporation taxes, uncertainty about royalties and the endless problem of pipeline export capacity combine to chill investment in the world’s third-largest trove of