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After stabilizing at around US$60 per barrel through May and June, the WTI benchmark oil price fell again Tuesday, in a 0.4 per cent drop to US$52.33 per barrel, to continue a rout that has seen prices slide roughly $7 per barrel so far in July.

“The key thing that’s going to happen now, with this downturn, is really the cost structure in the oilsands is going to come down,” Chhina said, to make the oilsands competitive against shale oil development, for which his company must compete for capital.

The current price for crude is roughly half of what it was this time last year and oilsands companies with higher cost structures have struggled as a result. The S&P/TSX Capped Energy Index has fallen nearly 9.5 per cent this year, with Cenovus down nearly 20 per cent.

As oil prices continue to fluctuate in the US$50 to US$60 per barrel range, Calgary executives turned to gallows humour in putting a brave face on the volatility at the TD conference.

Executives from various companies, including MEG Energy Corp. repeated Chhina’s joke that “except for oil prices and share prices, everything’s working really well.”

“We’re not sure we’re good predictors of oil going to go back to US$70 or US$80 or US$90 but what we did feel is that where the economics were in the business, we had to be able to thrive and grow in a US$60 to US$70 environment,” MEG Energy vice-president of investor relations John Rogers said.

The key thing that’s going to happen now, with this downturn, is really the cost structure in the oilsands is going to come down

In addition to reducing operating costs, Rogers said MEG would grow its production solely by expanding the company’s existing oilsands plants for the foreseeable future. The company had deliberately cut spending this year “to regain control over our cash flow,” Rogers said.