In the annex of the federal budget, there’s an analysis of a “high-impact scenario” in which the invasion of Ukraine doesn’t end quickly, and the reduction in Russian energy exports leads to an even sharper spike in global oil and gas prices. This would cause the price for North American oil, currently at just below US$100 per barrel, to hit $180 before the end of June.
There is still a sharp focus on the green transition, which Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland accurately described Thursday as “essential” but also “really, really expensive.” For Canada’s oil and gas sector, key are the details of a carbon capture utilization and storage tax incentive – to be taken up by industry players in Alberta and Saskatchewan, who have the corporate heft to participate in these large-scale projects. Starting this year, it’s expected to cost Ottawa $2.
In a time of high prices and a much-diminished cohort of junior oil and gas companies, this will matter less. But it still matters. And at the same time, the government is boosting tax incentives for companies that install clean energy equipment or that mine for minerals needed in the production of tech devices and electric vehicles.
At the same time, he said it would be wrong for Canada to say to Europe, “We’re not going to respond to your urgent needs at a time of crisis. We’re simply going to let you, effectively, freeze in the dark.”
Judging by gas prices,the oil industry is capable of looking after themselves just fine.