CER provides narrow view of Canada’s oil production future
The worst possible future for the country’s oil producers goes underexplored in scenario planning
The Canada Energy Regulator (CER) released Canada’s Energy Future 2021, its latest round of long-term energy scenarios, in early December. It introduced three scenarios—Current Policies, Evolving Policies and Towards Net-Zero—early in the report (see Fig.1). But, perhaps tellingly, it provided fully modeled results for only the two lower-carbon scenarios that are relatively benign for the future of Canadian output. By failing to do so for its Towards Net-Zero scenario, the CER has provided a much narrower of view of Canada’s potential oil production going forward. Ironically, the regulator implicitly acknowledges this point when it writes that production levels could be “significantly lower”
Also in this section
28 April 2026
Oil traders warning of $200/bl oil are wrong, and the market should be wary of proclamations that the impact of the oil shortage has only begun to be felt and a that a ‘harsh adjustment’ is coming—even for industrialised nations
28 April 2026
Restoring supply from Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain and Iraq involves complexities far beyond simply adjusting operational controls
28 April 2026
Datacentres will guzzle power at a ferocious rate, but the impact on wider energy markets will be far more complex than previously thought
28 April 2026
The key energy player faces balancing regional routes, political complexities, and creating a clear strategic vision for energy security






