Alberta Oil-Production Cuts Saved Jobs at MEG Energy, CEO Says

(Bloomberg) -- Alberta’s mandated crude-production cuts have prevented layoffs from at least one Canadian oil producer.

MEG Energy Corp. Chief Executive Officer Derek Evans said his company was considering laying off workers and slashing production at its Christina Lake project by 30 percent until Alberta’s mandated oil-production cuts lifted Canadian heavy crude prices.

“As of last Friday, we were trying to figure out how we could minimize, absolutely minimize, our capital expenditure,” Evans said in an interview with BNN Bloomberg Television. “We were looking at laying people off. We were looking at how we were going to make it through the first quarter and the first half of 2019.”

The cuts announced Sunday have “taken away the belief that we’re going to have to lay off people before Christmas,” he said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Kevin Orland in Calgary at korland@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Simon Casey at scasey4@bloomberg.net, Carlos Caminada, Joe Carroll

©2018 Bloomberg L.P.