Finance committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you to the committee members for inviting CAPP to be part of this presentation. I'll start off by introducing CAPP briefly. Then I'll move on to the effects of the current price environment on our industry and the effects we think that will have on C

Finance committee  I think in a commodity market the volatility is something that comes with the territory, be it fertilizer, grain, or oil and gas. It's something that is a part of being in business. If there's a difference, it's that 2008-09 was largely a low-cost environment due to the world ec

Finance committee  Being it's a world market, everyone in the world that's producing oil has the same world price. The differentials between light and heavy certainly have an effect. The ability to get our products to market is a challenge. It's something I think was important at $80, $90, $100 a b

Finance committee  It's very important. Over the last few years we have seen the differential between Brent, the price of oil off the U.K., at sometimes substantially higher prices than what we're getting in western Canada. Those in eastern Canada in Quebec are paying Brent prices while Canadians p

Finance committee  It has been very meaningful in certain locations. In Saskatchewan we've seen it ramp up from almost zero, three or four years ago, to today where 15% to 20% of the oil leaving our province leaves in railcars. In North America in some places it's even far larger than that. North

Finance committee  I think rail has been an important part of today getting our product to market, but there are advantages to having more pipe in the ground, which I think would be a benefit to our industry.

Finance committee  We feel strongly no matter how our products get to market, it needs to be done safely. Rail is a safe option to move product to market. Pipelines are a safe option. Some oil travels on the road in trucks, and that needs to be done safely as well. Regardless of the mode the high

Finance committee  Did you say that production is falling?

Finance committee  We are expecting to see.... Investments are coming off, but projects are coming through the pipeline.

Finance committee  That's right. Some of the projects that are coming on stream in the next two years are projects that have been four or five years in the development and building. They may be in year three or four. When they come on, we will see the increased capacity of those projects. We're see

Finance committee  Each of them has a different cost profile. The shale involves projects in which you drill a well and get production very quickly, and the life of it is shorter than that of an oil sands project, which could be 20 years. However, each project is going to be different as well in th

Finance committee  I think that's part of it. We have seen rail connecting those two over the last couple of years. If I could, maybe I'll address what Mr. McGowan spoke about, which was that the refining capacity might not be linked between the heavies and eastern Canada, but there's a very grea

Finance committee  My knowledge regarding the reaction in North Dakota to the current price environment isn't as good as it is regarding the reaction in Canada. The Bakken oil field straddles the Canada-U.S. border. Part of it is in Saskatchewan and Manitoba, and the experience in Manitoba and Sask

Finance committee  I think it's a great question. When we talk about diversification, there are the LNG options off the coast. We have always thought LNG was a landlocked, North American phenomenon. We have 200 years' supply, as Mr. Dunn mentioned. There is a 60% growth expectation in Asia for natu

Finance committee  I think on a world basis, the commodities are traded freely. I think there are challenges in market access, which is a disadvantage to—