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Canadian energy mission seeks greater harmony with U.S. Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers promotes common strategy rather than common policy in dealing with sharp differences between two countries Gary Park PNA Canadian Correspondent
Amid mounting cross-border trade tensions, a high-level Canadian energy delegation of industry and political leaders spent May 8-10 in Washington looking for some fence-mending with key U.S. policy makers and energy groups.
But the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers also presented the results of a new survey that showed a sharp divergence of views between Canadians and Americans on a number of energy issues including the impression that most Americans don’ t consider Canadian energy supplies as “foreign.”
CAPP president Pierre Alvarez said “there are different perspectives, there always will be and we recognize that.”
He said CAPP is not looking for a common policy in opening discussions on the continentalization of energy supply, demand and markets.
“What we’re looking for is a common strategy that looks at competitiveness, regulatory efficiency and long-term stability.” Energy issues to forefront Alvarez said that after two decades of virtual neglect, energy issues “have moved to the forefront of the North American policy agenda,” with the U.S. and Canadian governments faced with the challenge of how best to manage North America’s energy needs while balancing environmental protection.
The mission held meetings with the American Petroleum Institute and the Natural Gas Supply Association.
Along with executives of EnCana Corp., BP Canada Energy Co., Petro-Canada, Nexen Inc. and Devon Canada Corp., the delegation included Alberta Energy Minister Murray Smith, who said it was important for the industry and his government to present a common message to U.S. legislators. Canadian supplies not foreign Alvarez said the need to raise awareness in the United States of energy opportunities in Canada became even more evident in a new poll commissioned by CAPP and conducted by global research firm Ipsos-Reid Corp.
From the questioning of 2,001 U.S. and 1,001 Canadian residents, the survey showed 85 percent of Americans said reducing energy dependence on foreign supplies was important to their national security, but 71 percent said they did not view Canadian supplies as foreign.
Of the Canadians surveyed, 80 percent said they were concerned about foreign ownership of Canadian energy resources and 70 percent disagreed with the statement that “Canadians have nothing to worry about if we supply to the U.S.” Just another state In a separate public opinion survey by Ipsos-Reid, 27 percent of Americans thought Japan was their biggest trading partner, 25 percent thought it was China and only 14 percent knew it was Canada.
While 69 percent of Americans saw Canada as a separate nation, 30 percent viewed it as just another state like Oregon.
“What we see clearly is that Americans look at Canadians as a potentially friendly supply of energy,” said Tim Moro, vice-president of the energy division of Ipsos-Reid.
“Elsewhere, they look at the world and see a reflection of something different and they are very concerned about that right now. They are looking for safety, for security.” Moro said Canadians can turn those American attitudes to their advantage in the energy sector because “they see us as people they can do business with, as people they can trust.”
Continued growth in U.S. reliance on Canada The poll results were released on the same week that Canada’s National Energy Board released figures showing the continued growth in U.S. reliance on Canadian oil and natural gas.
For 2001, 63 percent of all Canadian crude oil and equivalent production was shipped south of the border, up from 58 percent in 1997, while 60 percent of marketable gas production ended up in the U.S., compared with 51 percent in 1997.
That made up by far the largest chunk of Canada’s energy exports, including electricity and coal, which generated a record C$58 billion (US$37 billion) in revenues in a year of wild commodity price swings and shrinking demand as the economic recession took hold.
The end result for Canada was a trade surplus in energy of C$36.7 billion (US$23.5 billion) that accounted for 12 percent of all its trade exports.
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