Alberta Premier Rachel Notley and her cabinet have put the legal wheels in motion to begin cutting oil production.
Notley is meeting with her cabinet to issue the necessary orders to direct oil producers to begin backing off on oil production by 8.7 per cent starting Jan. 1.
The premier announced the cut on Sunday.
The mandatory reductions will be reviewed monthly but are to continue until the end of next year.
She says the glut in reserves driving down prices for Canadian oil to bargain-basement levels needs to be addressed before producers begin taking more drastic steps such as slashing capital projects or laying off workers.
Notley says a lack of pipeline capacity is a big part of the problem and she has once again called on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government to do more than just send sympathy.
The premier announced last week that the Alberta government will purchase rail cars to get more oil moving while the province waits for the Enbridge Line 3 and the Trans Mountain expansion to the B.C. coast to come on line.
