freespirit
12th November 2011, 06:27 PM
http://www.bnn.ca/News/2011/11/11/Should-Canadian-energy-companies-look-beyond-the-US.aspx
The U.S. government's decision to explore alternative routes for TransCanada's (TRP-T 40.81 0.96 2.41%) controversial Keystone XL pipeline and extend the approval deadline to at least 2013 is renewing calls for Canada to seek new markets for its crude.
Sveinung Svarte, President and CEO of Athabasca Oil Sands, tells BNN the delay in TransCanada's Keystone XL pipeline might a blessing in disguise for Canada, as the country loses $15 to $20 billion a year by selling its oil to the U.S below market value.
"Maybe this can lead to export routes being opened to the west and east coast, and that's what Canada needs at the moment to make sure this subsidizing of our crude to the U.S. does not continue," he says. "It could be good for everybody here.
But Robert Huebert, associate professor at the University of Calgary, tells BNN that a decision by Canadian oil producers to focus on new markets will have major political ramifications.
"Anytime you start directing something as core as an energy supply and the amount we have in Alberta you're going to start re-introducing different geopolitical considerations," he says. "Once the U.S. starts recognizing that pipelines are not quite the devil being portrayed in their popular press…they're going to start realizing that if countries such as Canada start looking at alternative markets it's going to hurt their supply and it [will] tie us into the Chinese in ways that we don't fully appreciate."
Huebert says that if Canada increases its energy exports to China, and U.S.-China relations continue to deteriorate, Canada will be caught in the middle.
"Down the line you know that China and the United State are going to be increasingly rubbing up against each other," he says. "The question then becomes if we start becoming a major supplier to China, and the Americans and Chinese do have some sort of conflict, what kind of pressure would Americans bring on us in terms of influencing the policy with China?"
The U.S. government's decision to explore alternative routes for TransCanada's (TRP-T 40.81 0.96 2.41%) controversial Keystone XL pipeline and extend the approval deadline to at least 2013 is renewing calls for Canada to seek new markets for its crude.
Sveinung Svarte, President and CEO of Athabasca Oil Sands, tells BNN the delay in TransCanada's Keystone XL pipeline might a blessing in disguise for Canada, as the country loses $15 to $20 billion a year by selling its oil to the U.S below market value.
"Maybe this can lead to export routes being opened to the west and east coast, and that's what Canada needs at the moment to make sure this subsidizing of our crude to the U.S. does not continue," he says. "It could be good for everybody here.
But Robert Huebert, associate professor at the University of Calgary, tells BNN that a decision by Canadian oil producers to focus on new markets will have major political ramifications.
"Anytime you start directing something as core as an energy supply and the amount we have in Alberta you're going to start re-introducing different geopolitical considerations," he says. "Once the U.S. starts recognizing that pipelines are not quite the devil being portrayed in their popular press…they're going to start realizing that if countries such as Canada start looking at alternative markets it's going to hurt their supply and it [will] tie us into the Chinese in ways that we don't fully appreciate."
Huebert says that if Canada increases its energy exports to China, and U.S.-China relations continue to deteriorate, Canada will be caught in the middle.
"Down the line you know that China and the United State are going to be increasingly rubbing up against each other," he says. "The question then becomes if we start becoming a major supplier to China, and the Americans and Chinese do have some sort of conflict, what kind of pressure would Americans bring on us in terms of influencing the policy with China?"