EIA shows oilsands saw major reserve writedown in 2016 following oil price drop

CALGARY — The U.S. Energy Information Administration has highlighted how last year’s oil price drop brought on a massive writedown of high-cost Canadian oilsands reserves.  

The EIA said in a brief Monday that data from 68 U.S.-listed companies shows their oilsands reserves dropped by a total of about 7.7 billion barrels, making up the vast majority of their 8.2-billion net reduction in commercially viable barrels globally.  

The writedowns came after the West Texas Intermediate oil price averaged US$43.44 per barrel in 2016, down 11 per cent from US$48.83 per barrel in 2015.

U.S.-listed companies are required to use price averages for the past year in calculating reserves, while Canadian rules allow companies to use forward-looking prices.