Husky Energy CEO blames regulatory routine ‘that only went on and on’ for finish of Teck Frontier mine

The shelving of a due $20.6-billion Frontier oilsands cave this week stems mostly from a length of time it took for it to win regulatory approval, says a CEO of oilsands writer Husky Energy Inc.

The plan focus was cold by Teck Resources Ltd. final Sunday, only days before a sovereign supervision was to order on either it would concede it to proceed.

Teck CEO Don Lindsay pronounced there was “no constructive trail forward” in a Canadian sourroundings noted by dispute amid Indigenous rights, meridian change issues and apparatus development.

What killed Teck, we know, ultimately, was a regulatory routine that only went on and on and on and on.​​​​​– Rob Peabody, Husky CEO

“What killed Teck, we know, ultimately, was a regulatory routine that only went on and on and on and on,” pronounced Husky CEO Rob Peabody on a discussion call Thursday to plead his company’s fourth-quarter results.

“Had that routine resolved in a essential timeframe, I’m certain we’d have a Teck plan underneath construction currently since there were proponents who were set and penetrating to pierce brazen with that project.

“If we wait prolonged enough, that arrange of coalescence on a thought of spending that arrange of income eventually unravels.”

The Frontier plan focus was initial submitted to a Alberta Energy Regulator in late 2011. In 2016, a corner federal-provincial examination row was allocated and it authorized a plan final July.

Asked if a outcome suggests vast oilsands projects can’t be built in Canada, Peabody pronounced it indeed means all vast projects will have a formidable time, even if they furnish renewable hydroelectric energy.

“Building vital highways, building pipelines, building vital infrastructure projects around cities, things like that, we consider this relates to everything,” he said.

Critics of a mine, designed to furnish 260,000 barrels of oil a day, pronounced it wouldn’t have been essential unless North American oil prices were most aloft than they are now, nonetheless Teck pronounced new technologies would have been employed to move down costs.

Husky pronounced reduce long-term commodity cost forecasts were a vital reason it motionless to take non-cash spoil charges of $2.3 billion after taxation in a entertain finished Dec. 31.

The charges are associated to a upstream resources in North America, including a Sunrise oilsands plan and healthy gas assets, as good as a division of surplus resources during a refinery in Lima, Ohio, following a plan that allows it to routine heavier barrels of crude.

The writedowns relate a $2.8 billion assign taken by oilsands opposition Suncor Energy Inc. progressing this month associated to reduce foresee prices for complicated oil from a Fort Hills oilsands cave in northern Alberta.

Teck took a assign of $910 million for a same reason associated to a 21.3 per cent interest in a Fort Hills mine.

Husky cut about 370 jobs in a turn of layoffs in Oct to improved align staffing with collateral spending skeleton for 2020 and 2021 that had been reduced by $500 million due to changing marketplace conditions.

Shares of Husky fell by as most as 11.7 per cent to $6.31 on Thursday morning in Toronto after it reported formula that matched researcher expectations on prolongation though missed by a far-reaching domain on supports from operations.

The Calgary-based association tranquil by Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-shing blamed reduce U.S. refinery margins, an extended shutdown during a refinery in Lima, a proxy shutdown of a Keystone tube in Nov and $74 million associated to worker separation for posting supports from operations of $469 million.

That compared with $583 million in a year-earlier duration and researcher expectations of $712 million, according to a financial markets information organisation Refinitiv.

The association posted a net detriment of $2.34 billion, compared with a distinction of $216 million in a same entertain a year earlier.

On a call, Peabody pronounced a company’s Asia-Pacific operations are removing behind to normal after precautions associated to a COVID-19 pathogen temporarily reduced direct for healthy gas from a Liwan offshore plan operated by a partner, China’s CNOOC Ltd.

Article source: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/husky-ceo-blames-regulatory-process-teck-frontier-mine-1.5478751?cmp=rss