Departure opens doubts for oil-sands project

Doubts are surfacing over the future of BP’s


A string of oil-sands projects, which depend on prices of as much as $70 a barrel to remain economic, have been scrapped or delayed in recent months as crude oil prices have plummeted, from highs of more than $147 last July to lows of less than $40 this month.

The economic squeeze on the high-cost business of mining bitumen comes as the oil majors prepare to announce big declines in profits for the final quarter of 2008 because of the falling price of crude.

Times of London