CALGARY—Alberta Premier Rachel Notley is downplaying concerns that a lifting of Iranian sanctions would harm the province’s energy sector, though experts warned the Islamic republic’s nuclear agreement could result in an increase in global oil supply, thereby pushing back any recovery.
The historic deal reached between Iran and six world powers has opened the possibility that Iranian oil could again be flowing freely on world markets after increased sanctions in 2012 cut a million barrels a day from the country’s exports.
Notley said on Tuesday, July 14, that it’s possible the lifting of sanctions for Iran could have “a bit of a suppressing effect on oil prices for a period of time.”
“Like many Albertans, we talk about oil prices much like we talk about weather, and in both cases, we’re used to change,” she said in a teleconference call from Quebec City, where she met earlier with Premier Philippe Couillard.
“Alberta’s a province that has been built on dynamic commodity prices and we’ve seen oil go up, we’ve seen oil go down, and throughout it all we’ve seen the resilience of our economic infrastructure.”
