Alberta Increases Oil Production Limit for April

The Government of Alberta announced it will be increasing production in April by 25,000 barrels to a total of about 3.66 million barrels a day, an overall increase of 100,000 barrel per day from the January limit. This change is part of the progress towards Alberta’s original goal of reducing production by an average of 95,000bpd overall by the end of the year when the policy is scheduled to end.

Factors related to the increase in the limit are:

• Storage levels have shown some volatility but have trended downward from January.
• The difference in price between Alberta heavy oil (WCS) and the U.S. mid-continent price (WTI), which can be an indicator of capacity shortfall, remains narrow.
• Warmer weather in spring can increase transportation capacity with potentially less diluent needed in pipelines.