Had crude prices remained above $100 a barrel for any length of time, Canadians may have taken to calling their country “Saudi Canadia”, perhaps replacing the maple leaf with an oil derrick. It was only a slight boast to say that Canada had the second largest recoverable oil reserves in the world by virtue of its oil sands, or that Venezuela, with similar deposits, was number one. Development prospects look less attractive now, though, as crude hovers around $55 a barrel – almost two-thirds below its recent peak.

Suncor, the biggest oil sands producer, has pruned its budget by a third even as investors have slashed its value by almost two-thirds. Others, such as Royal Dutch/Shell, Nexen and EnCana are also re-evaluating the future. The frenzied rate of investment that had turned a small Canadian town such as Fort McMurray into a sub-Arctic El Dorado with rapid inflation and scarce housing is unlikely to continue without more certainty on crude prices.