Alberta will continue to curtail oil production into December of 2020 but producers will be permitted to increase production beginning in October of this year.
Energy Minister Sonya Savage announced Tuesday that the base limit for curtailment will increase from 10,000 barrels per day to 20,000 barrels per day this fall. The move will reduce the number of producers impacted by the curtailment from 29 to 16.
Savage says the curtailment program's extension is the result of the continued lack of pipeline capacity.
"Without curtailment and with continued delays in getting pipelines built, significant discounts for Canadian crude would be projected," said Savage during Tuesday's announcement. "That hurts producers and it hurts Albertans."
The previous NDP Government instituted the curtailment in January of this year to relieve Alberta's surplus oil reserves.
The current UCP government has cancelled the province's crude-by-rail contract which would have increased shipping capacity by an estimated 120,000 barrels per day.
