{"id":14290,"date":"2015-11-11T08:04:48","date_gmt":"2015-11-11T13:04:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/olduvai.ca\/?p=14290"},"modified":"2015-11-11T08:04:48","modified_gmt":"2015-11-11T13:04:48","slug":"keystone-xl-may-be-dead-the-oilsands-probably-arent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/?p=14290","title":{"rendered":"Keystone XL may be dead. The oilsands probably aren’t"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Keystone XL may be dead. The oilsands probably aren’t<\/a><\/h3>\n<\/div>\n

Low petroleum prices mean new projects are on pause, but existing production won’t disappear<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The oilsands are producing more than two million barrels per day from long-term projects that are very difficult to shut in. The transport network is like a game of whack-a-mole: One access point is knocked down, others pop up. (Jeff McIntosh\/Canadian Press)<\/p>\n

There is some soul searching going on in the oilpatch this week in the aftermath of the\u00a0U.S. rejection of Keystone XL<\/a>. Would a carbon tax have changed things? A gentler hand with the politics? How much of the U.S. decision was connected to increases in their own domestic production?<\/p>\n

What they aren’t asking is how to get oilsands product to market. Because it’s getting there, in ways both obvious and unexpected. The oilsands have lots of problems, like low prices and high costs.\u00a0But right now, market access is pretty far down the list.<\/p>\n

\"Mississippi<\/p>\n

Oil is even being floated on barges down the Mississippi, though this barge was hit by a tow boat in September. (The Associated Press)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

A slow boat down the Mississippi<\/strong><\/p>\n

“There is sufficient capacity to move all our production,” said Greg Stringham, vice-president of oilsands and markets with Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP). “There hasn’t been any production that has been shut in because of pipeline capacity.”<\/p>\n