steel prices, labor costs seen as risks for oil sands: report

摘要

Vancouver-Rising steel prices and the specter of a return to inflationary labor costs pose the greatest risks to development of Canada's oil sands and could sidetrack efforts by operators to plan and manage their costs, said a report by Ernst & Young. Identifying what it rates as the main input costs for oil sands development, the firm said steel has increased 30% this year and continues to climb, even though it remains below the 2008 peak. And low unemployment among skilled laborers in the high-cost Alberta market could revive the "out-of-control" labor costs of 2007-2008, which forced many developers to shelve or cancel projects.