In the wake of COVID-19, the global oil industry is facing a comeuppance like never before. Analysts have called the oil market “officially broken”, predicting a wave of bankruptcies and an extended period of volatility. Big Oil is preparing its shareholders for the possibility that demand for oil will never return to pre-COVID levels. Industry is slashing its investment in the oil sands.

Major global agencies, from the International Monetary Fund to the International Energy Agency, have said investing post-pandemic stimulus funds into clean energy will deliver a greater financial return – not to mention some hope of averting the worst of the climate crisis – compared to propping up the dying fossil fuel industry.

Oil prices are highly unlikely to ever recover to the levels that would make TMX viable, and it’s painfully clear Canada has no control over those prices.

All this adds up to a boondoggle of epic proportions: an unnecessary pipeline, a project no private buyer will want and taxpayers left holding a multi-billion dollar bag. If the Trans Mountain expansion no longer makes economic sense, why is Canada still in the pipeline business?

Source: The world has changed. Why is Canada still in the pipeline business?