Alberta Premier: Canada Can Increase Oil Exports in the U.S.

Alberta Premier Jason Kenney told a U.S. Senate committee on Tuesday that Canada could add over a million barrels per day (bpd) of oil export capacity to the United States.

Kenney also called for the support for a new oil pipeline between the two countries. However, Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson said there was a small debate in Ottawa and Washington about a new pipeline. He also said that focusing solely on fossil fuel security could risk delaying climate goals’ progress.

Both Kenney and Wilkinson were in Washington to speak to the Senate energy and natural resources committee about energy security, as countries around the globe struggle with high petroleum prices and restricted supply in the wake of Russia-Ukraine conflict.

Their contrasting statements show hot the Liberal administration frequently clashes with conservatives politicians like like Kenney over how to best handle Canada’s massive oil and gas resources while also decreasing climate-warming carbon emissions.

“With political will from Washington we could also get another major pipeline built that would forever allow the United States to free itself from imports from hostile regimes,” Premier Jason Kenney told the committee, saying that Alberta is the biggest source of U.S. energy imports.

The Canadian government has previously stated that the country’s oil pipeline exports might grow by 300,000 bpd this year. Kenney estimates that an additional 200,000 bpd may be delivered, and 400,000 barrels per day could also be added to pipeline capacity by midstream corporations by next year.

The government-owned Trans Mountain pipeline expansion project is anticipated to be completed by the end of next year, he added.

Jonathan Wilkinson told Reuters that he was unaware of any possible increase in rail capacity or technical upgrades. “The discussions I was having with White House were more forward-looking, about hydrogen, about critical minerals, about clean technologies,” he said.

Canada sends around 3.8 million barrels per day of oil to the United States and, until recently, experienced pipeline constraints that caused crude to be bottlenecked in Alberta.

U.S. President Joe Biden cancelled a crucial authorization for the Keystone XL pipeline in early 2021, alarming the Canadian energy industry. However, with the activation of Enbridge’s Line 3 replacement project last year, now Canadian export capacity is more proportional to production.

Original source material for this article taken from here