Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper rates U.S. government approval of TransCanada’s Keystone XL pipeline as a “no brainer” and a host of influential North American newspapers agrees with him.
But the prospect of seeing another 500,000 barrels per day of crude bitumen from the Alberta oil sands flowing into the U.S. seems to have aroused the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, while established opponents of Keystone are stepping up their fight as the U.S. State Department embarks on a fresh round of public hearings.
Harper, in New York for the United Nations General Assembly, joined the chorus of those making a case for oil sands production to play a major role in meeting the U.S. demand for energy and for offering a palatable alternative to imports from Saudi Arabia, Venezuela and Nigeria.
“It’s hard for me to imagine that the eventual decision (by the Obama administration) would be not to build Keystone,” he said.
But he warned the delays in arriving at a decision are “all the more reason why Canada should look at trade diversification and particularly diversification of energy exports.”
Access to Asian markets
Harper also delivered a strong endorsement of attempts to open export routes to Asia, including Enbridge’s Northern Gateway project, with federal Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver declaring the Canadian government wants increased access to Asian markets to “secure the benefits of our resources now and for the long term.”
Oliver said that while the government respects the regulatory process, it is a “key strategic objective to diversify our customer base” beyond the United States.
He said the oil and gas industry will remain a critical driver of a healthy Canadian economy, even as government and industry work to reduce its environmental impact.
Oliver said Keystone opponents fail to mention that coal plants in Wisconsin emit more greenhouse gases than the oil sands, or that California’s unconventional, thermal oil industry is more GHG-intensive than the oil sands.
Editorial endorsements
With the State Department expected to decide the fate of Keystone later this year, the battle for hearts and minds has seen seven leading U.S. newspapers along with The Globe and Mail of Toronto endorse the project, leaving only the New York Times on the other side of the fence.
Pro-pipeline editorials have been carried by the Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, USA Today, Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, Houston Chronicle and Boston Herald.
The Chicago Tribune argued that even if Keystone is defeated, Canada will ship its oil to the U.S. by “rail, barge or truck, if need be. … Americans should be celebrating a development that will reduce the dependence on oil from less-congenial foreign sources …(and) will keep prices in check when the economy starts growing in earnest again.”
The New York Times said it has two main objections to Keystone: The risk of oil spills along the pipeline and the fact that the “extraction of petroleum from the tar sands creates far more greenhouse emissions than conventional production does.”
Saudi Arabia
Meanwhile, the battle added a fresh twist, with the Saudi Arabian government showing that it is riled over growing allegations that U.S. reliance on Canada’s oil sands production is more “ethical” than buying crude from Saudi Arabia.
In the process, it has drawn a stern rebuke from the Canadian government, amid reports that the Saudi government has threatened legal action to prevent a Toronto-based advocacy group from running a TV ad arguing that “ethical” crude from the Alberta oil sands is a better choice than “funding oppression” by importing Saudi oil.
Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird said in a statement Sept. 22 he will ask Saudi officials in Canada to explain their attempts to “stifle free speech.”
Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver and Immigration Minister Jason Kenney added their objections to attempts by a foreign government to undermine freedom of speech in Canada, while the House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee said it will consider investigating the dispute.
EthicalOil.org
EthicalOil.org ran a 35-second ad in August on the Sun News Network and the Oprah Winfrey Network in Canada making its case for Alberta crude over oil from a country that refuses to let women drive and prevents them from leaving their homes or taking employment without permission from male guardians.
The Saudis hired the international law firm of Norton Rose to send “cease and desist” letters to the Television Bureau of Canada, pressuring the privately funded review agency to withdraw approval of the ad and warning about possible legal action.
CTV News confirmed it is not prepared to run the ad until the dispute between EthicalOil and Saudi Arabia is resolved.
Alykhan Velshi, executive director of EthicalOil and a former aide to Kenney, said his group is so outraged by the Saudis’ “intimidation tactics” it has resumed running the commercials again on the Sun network.
EthicalOil is funded by companies and individuals, many of them associated with the petroleum industry, but has no ties with the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers.
Based on rising oil sands production, Canada has steadily expanded its share of the United States oil market, exporting close to 2 million barrels per day in 2010 and relegating Saudi Arabia to fourth place after Mexico and Venezuela at about 900,000 bpd.
—Gary Park
