RE: Not much discussion on the speech.Mr. Stelmach is between a rock and a hard place, but the oil companies have no place to go either and Uncle Sam needs a reliable source of oil and fast. As for gas, things look a little more cloudy at the present (only at present),things could change on a whim there too.
Unfortunatly, this oil has to be 'manufactured'from oilsands and it takes years to plan and build the plants. A postponment of a few plants would do our economy more good than hurt.If you can believe the pundits' siren song of $150 oil, why rush things now?
Saskatchewan has heavy oil and you can bet your last dollar that they will not charge a lower royalty than Alberta and BC has gas but not much oil, so they won't come and play ball either. Natural gas will be needed when the deep oil sands which cannot be mined has to be heated to get the oil out as Exxon does now in Cold Lake and Encana at Christine Lake.
The cost of a barrel of oil at the established plants is $12-$14 so there is plenty of room to make a profit.The newer plants may be more expensive but so is the outlook for more expensive oil. Convential oil drilling has been on the decline and no matter what the royalty is, when the trough is empty there won't be any.
There is always China, bet they would be glad to have a secure supply of oil.