The Globe and Mail reports in its Wednesday edition that oil sands companies are increasingly confident in boosting production due to positive policy signals and new pipeline plans. The Globe's Emma Graney writes that an agreement on July 2 involving Alberta, Ottawa and major oil sands companies aims to advance a large carbon-capture project called Pathways. This non-binding deal paves the way for a new West Coast oil pipeline and potential financial support from Ottawa and Alberta for emission reductions and production expansion. Pipeline capacity, or the lack of it, has long been a point of contention for oil companies and Alberta. That is changing. Enbridge and Trans Mountain are working to boost capacity on their lines, South Bow is pursuing the Prairie Connector pipeline from Alberta to Montana, and the province has also proposed a new West Coast oil pipeline. TD Cowen's Menno Hulshof says the Alberta oil sector's confidence in expanding production is driven by the belief that at least some of those pipelines will materialize in a reasonable time frame. He says, "We went from TMX coming on-line and questioning whether that was going to be the last of it, to quickly realizing that is absolutely not the case."