The Globe and Mail reports in its Monday edition energy economists say a prolonged slump in oil prices will further slow two proposed pipelines already hamstrung by court challenges and community opposition in British Columbia. The Globe's Mike Hager writes federal officials are pushing for both the Northern Gateway and Trans Mountain pipelines to go through the province. Werner Antweiler, an energy economics professor at the University of B.C., said the gap of "almost $30" a barrel between North American oil and the global supply has "evaporated" and does not look set to return. "This was the big calculation a few years ago [that] 'We need to have these pipelines because there is this big gap and now we're losing all these arbitrage benefits,'" Prof. Antweiler said. "[Now] it's not quite as compelling, getting to the foreign markets, as maybe getting to some of the closer markets [within North America]." That means TransCanada's Energy East pipeline proposal is likely the closest to getting built, as it would send Western oil east to be refined or exported, he added. With energy companies spending less, there could be less oil available for pipelines built in the future.