Americans Delay Decision on Oil from Canada

An increasingly lively debate has been going on in Canada since the White House decided to postpone the final decision on the Keystone XL pipeline, through which Canadian oil would be transported to Port Arthur on the Gulf of Mexico.

A week ago, President Barack Obama’s administration announced that it would consider an alternate route for extending the pipeline. The decision will be made only after next year’s U.S. presidential election.

After the White House’s decision, TransCanada, the company building the pipeline, declared that it was ready to cooperate with Nebraska officials to change the route of the pipeline so that it does not pass through environmentally sensitive areas. Last Wednesday, officials in Nebraska decided that work on the alternate pipeline route can continue.

The U.S. has been in favor of Canadian oil for a long time now because buying this resource from a friendly, neighboring country is less of an economic and political hazard than importing it from the Near East. At the same time, according to some Canadian entrepreneurs and politicians, although the U.S. needs Canadian oil, it would be better for Canada to export-ready fuels instead of the cheaper raw material that is then converted in American refineries.

After the White House decided to postpone the decision on the Keystone XL, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper expressed his disappointment and suggested that Canada look into the possibility of selling oil in Asian markets. Commentators emphasize, however, that exporting oil to Asia by tanker carries high environmental risk.

Meanwhile, Alison Redford, the premier of the Canadian province of Alberta, participated in discussions with premiers of other provinces regarding a joint strategy for energy and raw energy materials exports. These discussions included topics such as exporting electricity produced in British Columbia and from offshore oil drilling along the Atlantic coast, as well as plans to increase “green energy” production in Ontario province. Such an energy alliance among the provinces would be new to the Canadian market. Premier Redford recently went to the U.S. to encourage Americans to accept oil from Alberta.

An extension further southward of the already existing pipeline that runs from Alberta province to St. Louis, Mo. has long roused ecologists’ protests. Keystone XL is a project of TransCanada and has an estimated value of $13 billion. The finished pipeline is expected to transport 1.4 million barrels of oil a day, which is one-third of all Canadian oil exports to the U.S. TransCanada also emphasized that this construction will create many new jobs.