Carbon price won’t be deciding factor for oilsands development: report
CALGARY — Alberta’s incoming carbon taxes will have a minimal effect on new oilsands development compared with oil prices and market access, says a new report.
TD Bank economist Dina Ignjatovic said in the paper released Tuesday that if oil prices rise above US$60 a barrel then a carbon tax likely won’t make or break investment decisions at all, while below that price few projects will get approved either way.
“Basically US$60 is that threshold, where before that you’re not going to see a lot of new projects announced anyway,” said Ignjatovic in an interview.
She said below the threshold margins are especially squeezed, so a carbon tax could have some impact, but that boosting efficiencies, more pipelines and higher oil prices heavily outweigh its importance.