Alberta Producers Seek Province's Help in Averting Gas Industry'Crisis’

摘要

A group of midsized Alberta gas producers, stung by persistently low prices and dismal balance sheets, has proposed voluntary production cuts to help stabilize the market-as long as the province agrees to underwrite the plan.”We implore the government of Alberta to take swift and decisive action to restore a balanced and orderly market for the Aeco hub in order to capture a fair market price for Albertans’natural gas resource,”the CEOs of nine companies wrote to Alberta Premier Jason Kenney.The goal, they said, is to”avert a crisis in the natural gas sector which could result in widespread corporate failures, significant job loss and a further deterioration in investor confidence that will impair the Alberta gas sector's ability to participate in any future recovery.”The producers, which together produce about 2 billion cubic feet of gas per day, have been meeting this month with provincial government officials to help hammer out specifics.In broad terms, according to the letter, the nine companies will”commit to manage their working interest production on an entirely voluntary basis when required to do so in order to balance supply with system capacity and thereby restore normalized market conditions.”