Norwegian energy firm Statoil said on Thursday it will postpone development of its 40,000 barrel per day Corner oil sands project in Alberta, Canada, for at least three years and cut about 70 jobs at its Canadian unit because of rising costs and limited pipeline space. Corner would have been the second major development at Statoil’s Kai Kos Dehseh property in northern Alberta. The company said its existing thermal oil sands operation, the 20,000 bpd Leismer project, is not affected by the postponement. Statoil said it decided to delay construction of the project because inflation was pushing up the cost of labor and materials, while tightness in pipeline space to the U.S. market was pushing down the price of its oil. “Costs for labour and materials have continued to rise in recent years and are working against the economics of new projects,” Staale Tungesvik, […]