Exiting members cite concerns over policies, fees, and group focus
.jpg)
Several members of the country’s largest oil-industry association have severed ties with the group over concerns regarding carbon tax policies and expensive membership.
More than half a dozen oil and gas industry players have left the Calgary-based Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP), with some of them joining the smaller Explorers and Producers Association of Canada (EPAC), according to the Financial Post.
CAPP acts as an industry lobby group, reaching out to various levels of government over various issues affecting the sector. It has publicly supported broad-based carbon pricing, saying it will build support for pipelines, though not every member agrees.
EPAC’s position is more nuanced: it believes that the costs of carbon taxes are certain, but whether they’ll help producers move oil and gas on new pipelines is still unclear.
The deserting companies cited different reasons for leaving CAPP. Some said the group is too focused on the oilsands, while others disagreed with its position on carbon taxes.
Crescent Point Energy, one of the companies that have been confirmed to abandon CAPP, said it did not agree with the association’s carbon-tax stance.
“We believe a carbon tax in Saskatchewan is ineffective in reducing emissions,” Crescent Point President and CEO Scott Saxberg told the Post. “Rather, we support a more pragmatic emissions reduction framework that focuses on innovation and investment in technology.”
While Saxberg said the company supports Alberta’s package of climate-change policies, which includes a carbon tax, it believes each province has policies to support its citizens and industries. With that in mind, the company is in favour of the Saskatchewan government’s no-carbon-tax stance.
According to some sources, certain companies have been so hurt by the oil-price collapse that CAPP’s membership fee has become too expensive for them. With crude prices now below US$44 per barrel and supply limits imposed by OPEC having little to no effect, the fee has become an easy cost for some producers to cut.
The CAPP is charging its members $4.64 per barrel of oil equivalent they produce this year, up to a maximum of $3.1 million plus general sales tax. The minimum amount members must pay is $5,000.
The membership fee has actually been lowered in recent years, CAPP President and CEO Tim McMillan said in an interview with the National Post.
“We have to be reflective of our industry, which is looking for cost savings,” McMillan said.
McMillan also said that while some divisions on policy may exist among members, CAPP attempts to speak for the whole industry. He also denied claims that the group is too focused on the oilsands, saying that the group divides its time and attention between oilsands, conventional production, and offshore.
“That’s what our job is,” he said.
For more of Wealth Professional's latest industry news, click here.
Related stories:
New report forecasts more oil-market pain
Morning Briefing: Oil in focus, markets lower
More than half a dozen oil and gas industry players have left the Calgary-based Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP), with some of them joining the smaller Explorers and Producers Association of Canada (EPAC), according to the Financial Post.
CAPP acts as an industry lobby group, reaching out to various levels of government over various issues affecting the sector. It has publicly supported broad-based carbon pricing, saying it will build support for pipelines, though not every member agrees.
EPAC’s position is more nuanced: it believes that the costs of carbon taxes are certain, but whether they’ll help producers move oil and gas on new pipelines is still unclear.
The deserting companies cited different reasons for leaving CAPP. Some said the group is too focused on the oilsands, while others disagreed with its position on carbon taxes.
Crescent Point Energy, one of the companies that have been confirmed to abandon CAPP, said it did not agree with the association’s carbon-tax stance.
“We believe a carbon tax in Saskatchewan is ineffective in reducing emissions,” Crescent Point President and CEO Scott Saxberg told the Post. “Rather, we support a more pragmatic emissions reduction framework that focuses on innovation and investment in technology.”
While Saxberg said the company supports Alberta’s package of climate-change policies, which includes a carbon tax, it believes each province has policies to support its citizens and industries. With that in mind, the company is in favour of the Saskatchewan government’s no-carbon-tax stance.
According to some sources, certain companies have been so hurt by the oil-price collapse that CAPP’s membership fee has become too expensive for them. With crude prices now below US$44 per barrel and supply limits imposed by OPEC having little to no effect, the fee has become an easy cost for some producers to cut.
The CAPP is charging its members $4.64 per barrel of oil equivalent they produce this year, up to a maximum of $3.1 million plus general sales tax. The minimum amount members must pay is $5,000.
The membership fee has actually been lowered in recent years, CAPP President and CEO Tim McMillan said in an interview with the National Post.
“We have to be reflective of our industry, which is looking for cost savings,” McMillan said.
McMillan also said that while some divisions on policy may exist among members, CAPP attempts to speak for the whole industry. He also denied claims that the group is too focused on the oilsands, saying that the group divides its time and attention between oilsands, conventional production, and offshore.
“That’s what our job is,” he said.
For more of Wealth Professional's latest industry news, click here.
Related stories:
New report forecasts more oil-market pain
Morning Briefing: Oil in focus, markets lower
