As of Tuesday morning, Canadian Natural Resources was still not responding publicly to a letter it sent to industry partners in the region last week suggesting jobs were on the line in the northeast region if the provincial government went ahead with changes in how the production curtailment formula is applied.
In an emailed response to the St. Paul Journal, CNRL spokesperson Julie Woo stated, "Unfortunately, we are continuing to wait for information from government today and I'm not in a position to comment right now. I'm sorry - we're really trying hard to make this right for the region."
The St. Paul Journal initially contacted CNRL Friday after UCP MLA Dave Hanson provided a letter to the newspaper Friday saying he'd obtained it from a "source in the industry that received an email from CNRL."
The letter strongly denounces a move by the Alberta government that amends the method for calculating curtailment.
In what reads as a call to action to its industry partners, CNRL asks them in the letter to contact Premier Rachel Notley, Energy Minister Margaret McCuaig-Boyd and the Production Curtailment Issues Panel.
"The disproportionate February 2019 curtailment numbers will hurt jobs, specifically in the Bonnyville/Elk Point/Lloydminster area. Canadian Natural will be required to curtail a third more production in February compared to January, and the reduced production will unnecessarily impact jobs significantly in the heavy oil region."
CNRL had come out in support of the curtailment plan late last year, as did the UCP, and supported the government's plan to curtail production using the average of the six highest months from November 2017 to October 2018. However, "the amended methodology for calculating the baseline uses the single highest month of production in the period of Nov. 2017 to Oct. 2018," which is, according to the letter, "unreasonable and discriminatory" because CNRL is "burdened with 35 per cent of the curtailment total target volume."
"You can see it in the statement they sent, they agree with curtailment. What they don't agree with is changing the criteria mid stride," Hanson told the Journal.
"I talked to CRNL in Bonnyville just to confirm that they are actually serious about possibly starting to shut in next week and in order to meet the new criteria for Feb. 1 and, yes, they are pretty much going to have to start as early as next week."
In response, the Alberta government appears to be staying the course on curtailment, with Mike McKinnon, spokesperson for the Minister of Energy, providing a statement to the St. Paul Journal Wednesday morning in keeping with the message the department has delivered throughout the week to provincial media.
"CNRL fought hard for this policy and we ultimately agreed it was in the best interest of Albertans. Premier Rachel Notley took action to protect the value of the resources owned by all Albertans, and her leadership is instrumental in saving thousands of jobs across the sector," McKinnon stated.
"CNRL has benefited substantially from this temporary policy. We disagree with their characterization and it's disappointing to see them threatening suppliers with job losses when they're being treated the same as other producers. CNRL is being treated fairly and equitably under this policy, which they support, and the company will need to be accountable for their own regional business decisions."
Asked if he had spoken with other heavy oil producers in the region, Hanson said he had "checked in with Devon Energy and they don't feel that it's going to affect them as much because they had more of a kind of flat line in their production and they don't see it as effecting them as much."
Hanson is calling for the government to "take a step back and have a look at it and not change the rules. Let's get back to the agreement that we had agreed to back in November/December.
"Unfortunately, the place that they (CNRL) have chosen to do their curtailment is in the places that affects our whole region so it could be devastating for communities like St. Paul, Bonnyville, Cold Lake, Elk Point especially," Hanson said.
The Alberta Energy Regulator, which established a Production Curtailment Issues Panel to consider submissions from "potentially impacted operators regarding unintentional consequences that result from production curtailment rules," has not responded to the Journal's request for comment on this issue.
