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The recent recession straightened out balance sheets in the oil patch and left lean companies that are looking to the future, which might not be as grim as it seems, said Kenney.

There is some optimism among Alberta industry players that the short-term price plunge could clear out competition in the United States shale oil sector, creating longer-term opportunities in the oil sands.

“But obviously in the short term, there will be some real challenges,” said Kenney.

Among the biggest challenges will be to the Alberta balance sheet, which could lose billions in revenue from the price drop.

“Somewhere around $5 billion is the cost of what we’re seeing,” said University of Calgary economist Trevor Tombe. “They report in the budget different scenarios: a low price, a high price, global recession scenario, a no market access pipeline scenario. What we’re seeing now is way worse than even their most pessimistic scenario,” he said.

There will be some real challenges

Tombe said the brunt of the oil price collapse will fall on the province’s finances.

“The broader economic effects of this price drop will be — it’s hard to say — but less than during the recession, just because oil companies are quite a bit leaner than they used to be. Investment levels are quite a bit lower, employment per barrel quite a bit lower,” said Tombe. “So I think this is primarily a fiscal shock, than an economic one.”

Alberta’s budget is so dependent on resource revenue that the province estimates that $355 million gets sucked out of the provincial treasury for every dollar oil drops below the recent budget’s estimate of $58/barrel. After a breathtaking plummet on Monday, the West Texas Intermediate price stood at $31 per barrel.