Canada: Pander to voters at peril, U.S. told

[Queasy]

Link - We currently import most of our oil from Canada. They are also the most stable country that we do import oil from. Between this and the anti-NAFTA talk, we seem to be doing a good job of upsetting a valuable neighbor.

Big-city U. S. mayors and presidential hopeful Barack Obama, who joined the parade this week of ill-informed, U. S. anti-oil sands policies, should be careful what they wish for.

While the aim is undoubtedly to pander to the electorate in an election year charged with oil and climate-change debate, what they are stoking is an increasingly angry Canadian energy industry that is seriously looking at non-U. S. markets for its oil.

Here's what Rick George, chief executive of Suncor Energy Inc., Canada's largest single oil sands producer, said this week, reflecting rising frustration with the wave of American anti-oil sands policies:

"We are down to very limited amounts of spare capacity," he said. "Mexico is in very steep decline. The North Sea is in decline. Venezuela is likely to slip from here. There are problems in Nigeria, Russia. The world will absorb this oil one way or the other. If the U. S. doesn't take it, then we will develop other markets."

Borrowing heavily from the rhetoric of the environmental movement, right down to using the pejorative "tar sands" to describe Canada's reserves, mayors from the United States' largest cities adopted a resolution at a meeting in Miami on Monday singling out Western Canada's oil-sands sector as part of a crackdown on fuels that cause global warming.

Yesterday, Mr. Obama vowed to break America's addiction to "dirty, dwindling and dangerously expensive" oil if elected U. S. president -- and he said one of his first targets may well be imports from Canada's oil sands. A senior advisor to Obama's campaign said it's an "open question" whether Alberta's oil sands fit with Obama's vision for shifting the U. S. dramatically away from carbon-intensive fuels.

The moves follow the adoption in December by the U. S. federal government of a law that bans federal procurement of alternative fuels that generate more greenhouse gases than "conventional sources," which could include oil from the oil sands. A campaign by the Canadian sector to exclude Canada's oil has yet to bear fruit.

Meanwhile, California has adopted low-carbon fuel standards that disfavour Canada's production.

Canada's oil is now exported almost exclusively to the United States because it's dependent on the reach of pipelines. Of the 2.7 million barrels produced daily, 1.6 million is sold to Americans and 15,000 to 25,000 goes to non-U. S. markets, through a Kinder Morgan Energy Partners oil pipeline from Alberta to the West Coast.

That picture could soon change.

The sector is looking at reversing Enbridge Inc.'s Line 9, which would allow Western Canadian oil to move all the way to Montreal, and then from there move on another pipeline to the East coast, where it could be loaded on tankers for sale offshore. Because the pipelines are already built, it's estimated it would take barely a year to reverse the flow of the oil and open that new option.

Meanwhile, interest is perking up yet again to build another pipeline from Alberta to the West Coast, to Kitimat or Prince Rupert, where oil tankers could sail to Asian markets.

Greg Stringham, vice-president of the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers, said oil-sands companies are studying the alternatives because they want to keep their options open in case U. S. policies reduce their access to the U. S. market.

It's not the first time the Canadian sector has pondered offshore oil routes. It's time to take them seriously.

 

[StageLeft]

I think most imports are still opec but canada is the largest single country giving oil.

The US in reality cannot avoid oil based on its dirtiness, not with current prices.

 

[Queasy]

Originally posted by: Skoorb
I think most imports are still opec but canada is the largest single country giving oil.

Correct.

 

[sandorski]

You want to stop Oil Sands Developement, stop using Oil.

 

[mundane]

Originally posted by: sandorski
You want to stop Oil Sands Developement, stop using Oil.

They want to have their cake, and eat it too.

 

[mxyzptlk]

I'm sorry, whats the big deal with oil sands? Why wouldn't you want oil from there, unless it were simply harder to access which directly lead to it being more expensive. .

 

[yllus]

The National Post is my daily paper and I generally like what's in it, but one should be cautioned from taking the opinions of its editorials without a grain of salt. They will use the opportunities they get to bash left-wing candidates as they see fit.

Nobody up here is "upset" or "angry" about such talk from Senator Obama, Senator Clinton or Senator McCain. Energy sector executives don't get upset or angry over business, and they definitely don't let those emotions translate into some sort of punitive action against their biggest customer. The very idea of that is completely insane, and is pretty telling when you consider what this editorial is trying to say as a whole: "Rein in that Obama boy of yours, Americans! He's gonna make things difficult for ya!" Yeah right. As if they've never heard harsh words from a politician on the campaign trail before.

Will Canada exploit a possible reopening of NAFTA to bend the U.S. to its will? Absolutely! But that's business. Being good neighbours and friends has nothing to do with it. And neither do the hurt feelings of oil executives.

 

[NoShangriLa]

I hope that they built a new pipe line to the west.

More work & $$$ for BCers.

 

[Firebot]

The more Obama talks, the more he seems to be barking up the wrong tree. NAFTA is the reason why gas costs higher for Canadians then it does to the US, because Canada is forced to ship more gas to the US then what remains in Canada and at subsidized costs. Canada actually has to import 55% of its crude because of this.

Both Obama and Clinton were boasting how they would reopen NAFTA to appease Michigan union workers who lost their jobs to up north. Trust us Canadians when we say that the US has a much better part of the deal right now, and that oil would be the first thing on the agenda.

Oil sands are now seen as evil? There will always be a buyer for oil. While it may be far more convenient for Canada to sell to the US, China and India would be right there to buy the oil.

The US is only hurting itself if they go through with their election rethoric. It will never happen though; this is just a play to idiot US hippie voters who can't think past their nose.

 

[OFFascist]

What? So Obama doesnt want America to use Canadian oil?

I guess I might not have to worry about him winning in November because voters are going to love the fact that Obama that despite $5+ gas Obama doesnt want Canandian oil.