据今日油价网站3月15日消息 加拿大帝国石油公司周五表示，由于艾伯塔省强制减产造成的市场不确定性，它已经放缓了阿斯彭（Aspen）油砂项目的开发。

帝国石油与森科能源和赫斯基能源一起，反对全面削减，继续认为艾伯塔政府干预自由市场的做法是错误的，而那些主要投资于下游业务的公司，则受益于炼油厂极低的原料价格。

帝国石油在3月15日宣布推迟阿斯彭项目的声明中说：“帝国石油的观点仍然认为，自由市场的运作和干预会向投资者关于在艾伯塔和加拿大投资传递一个负面信息，公司仍然担心政府操纵价格的无意后果，包括对铁路经济的负面影响。”

该公司决定在去年11月继续开发该项目，一个月前，艾伯塔省政府下令削减石油产量，试图提高当时非常低的加拿大重油价格。

艾伯塔省麦克默里堡东北部的阿斯彭项目将涉及19.5亿美元（26亿加元）的投资，预计每天生产约75000桶沥青。11月，帝国石油计划于2018年第四季度动工，2022年开工。

帝国石油3月15日表示：“鉴于艾伯塔省的减产，考虑到冬季钻探和现场准备季节有限，项目执行速度放缓，可能导致至少一年的延迟。”。

王磊 摘译自 今日油价

原文如下：

Alberta’s Production Cuts Stall New Oil Sands Projects

Imperial Oil said on Friday that it had slowed down the development of its Aspen oil sands project, due to the market uncertainty that the mandatory production cuts in Alberta have created.

Imperial Oil, alongside Suncor Energy and Husky Energy, has opposed the cuts across the board and those companies—mostly with investments in downstream operations that had benefited from the very low prices of refinery feedstocks—continue to hold the view that the Alberta government has been wrong in intervening on the free market.

“Imperial’s view remains that free markets work and intervention sends a negative message to investors about doing business in Alberta and Canada. The company remains concerned about the unintended consequences of the government’s decision to manipulate prices, including the negative impact on rail economics,” Imperial Oil said in today’s statement announcing the delaying of the Aspen project.

The company decided to proceed with the development of the project in November last year, a month before the Alberta government mandated oil production cuts in its attempt to lift the then-very low Canadian heavy oil prices.

The Aspen project northeast of Fort McMurray, Alberta, will involve an investment of US$1.95 billion (C$2.6 billion) and is expected to produce around 75,000 barrels of bitumen per day. In November, Imperial planned construction to begin in the fourth quarter of 2018 and the project to start up in 2022.

In light of the Alberta production cuts, “the slowdown in project execution, given the limited winter drilling and site preparation season, will likely result in a delay of at least one year,” Imperial said today.