The Globe and Mail reports in its Thursday, Dec. 11, edition that Alberta's heavy crude dropped to its lowest price in five years. The Globe's Jeff Lewis writes that the skidding price for Alberta's extra-thick crude is well off expectations set by even the largest oil sands companies, raising the spectre of further cuts and project delays as oil's decline begins to take a toll on longer-term growth plans in Northern Alberta. ARC Financial's Jackie Forrest says companies will be reluctant to sanction new developments at today's prices. That will ultimately crimp production growth. Oil prices have spiralled downward since members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries agreed last month to maintain their production ceiling at 30 million barrels a day. For years, oil sands companies have grappled with steep discounts as the province's rapidly growing production backed up due to constrained export pipelines. The sharp drop in Western Canadian Select prices this week comes even as the energy industry boosts shipments of oil by rail and benefits from the start of major new pipelines such as Enbridge's 600,000-barrel-a-day Flanagan South conduit to the U.S. Gulf Coast.