Latest news with #TransMountainExpansion
Calgary Herald
20-05-2025
- Business
- Calgary Herald
Breakenridge: New pipelines will be decided by the market, not by Steven Guilbeault
It is quite striking to see how Canada's new minister of Canadian Identity manages to be so clueless and tone deaf when it comes to certain parts of the country. That's especially true, it seems, when it comes to the current mood and political situation here in Alberta. Article content Article content It's unlikely that Steven Guilbeault is intentionally handing ammunition to Alberta separatists or helping their cause, although he'd be high on the list of prominent Liberals you'd suspect wouldn't be sad to see Alberta leave. Either way, we could do with a whole lot less of him right now. Article content Article content Guilbeault is no longer Environment minister, and is not and was not ever the minister for Natural Resources, so it's unclear why he feels the need to continue to weigh in on such matters. He also presumably does not speak on behalf of the prime minister on these files, but the prime minister has kept Guilbeault as a senior minister and has not rebuked any of his comments. Article content Article content The comments in question concern the future of energy infrastructure in Canada, and specifically the likelihood that we'll see any new pipelines constructed. Ultimately, the market will (or should) dictate the question of what's needed and what's economically viable, but apparently Guilbeault has it all figured out. Article content According to the minister, we will see in a few years that 'demand for oil will peak globally and it will also peak in Canada.' Therefore, he argues, 'before we start talking about building an entirely new pipeline, maybe we should maximize the use of existing infrastructure.' Article content Article content Specifically, he pointed to the Trans Mountain Expansion project (TMX), which he claimed was operating at 'about 40 per cent capacity.' Article content In fact, TMX is operating at about double the capacity cited by Guilbeault, a fairly significant error that very much undermines his point. It would also be fair to note that if the minister had his way, it's unlikely that TMX would exist in the first place. Article content It should also be noted that other forecasts concerning global oil demand envision a much longer timeline to peak demand than the one cited by Guilbeault. As well, the decision as to whether demand for oil and our ability to move that product justifies investment in new pipeline infrastructure is one for the private sector to make.
Epoch Times
15-05-2025
- Business
- Epoch Times
It's Time Canada Saw Energy as Power, Not as a Liability
Commentary As Prime Minister Mark Carney met with U.S. President Donald Trump recently, energy should have been the issue behind every headline, whether mentioned or not. Canada's future as a sovereign, economically resilient country will depend in no small part on whether the country seizes this moment or stalls out again in a fog of regulatory inertia and political ambivalence. Canada holds an underleveraged strategic card: the potential to be the world's most reliable democratic energy supplier. Recent trade figures show Chinese imports of Canadian crude hit a record 7.3 million barrels in March, a direct result of newly expanded access to the Pacific via the Trans Mountain Expansion (TMX), a federally owned pipeline project that now connects Alberta crude to global markets through British Columbia's coast. But one pipeline does not make a national strategy. Demand in Asia is growing fast. India is among the hungriest, but Canada's infrastructure is nowhere near meeting that demand. This matters not just for Canada, but for the United States as well. In a world where energy markets are weaponized and strategic reserves manipulated by authoritarian regimes, the case for a coordinated North American energy alliance is stronger than ever. Such an alliance should not erode national sovereignty. It should reinforce it, allowing Canada, the United States, and Mexico to insulate themselves collectively from supply shocks and geopolitical blackmail while projecting democratic strength abroad. But for that alliance to work, Canada must be a credible partner, not merely a junior supplier shackled by Ottawa-induced internal bottlenecks. While the United States has leveraged its shale revolution, LNG capacity, and permitting reforms to pursue energy dominance, Canada dithers. Projects languish. Investment flees. And meanwhile, Canadian oil continues to flow south at a steep discount, only to be refined and resold, often back to us or our trading partners, at full global prices. Yes, you read that right. Canada's oil and gas is sold at a discount to U.S. customers, and that discount costs Canada more than $70 million every single day. The Frontier Centre for Public Policy has developed a real-time Related Stories 1/22/2025 2/15/2024 Such massive losses should be unacceptable to any government serious about economic growth, geopolitical influence, or environmental integrity. Yet Ottawa continues to speak the language of ambition while legislating the mechanics of paralysis. Canada's energy infrastructure challenges are not just economic; they are matters of national defence. No country can claim to be secure while relying on another's pipelines to transport its energy across its own territory. No country can afford to leave its wealth-producing regions boxed in by regulatory choke points or political resistance dressed as environmental virtue. Our energy economy is fragmented. Western hydrocarbons are stuck inland and must pass through the United States to reach Eastern Canada or global markets eastward. This weakens national unity and leaves us exposed to foreign leverage. It also creates strategic vulnerabilities for our allies. American industries depend on Canadian crude. So do U.S. Gulf Coast refineries. And while American officials continue to treat energy as a tool of diplomacy and economic leverage, using energy exports to build alliances and reduce reliance on unstable regimes, Canada treats it as a domestic liability. We need to shift the frame. Infrastructure isn't just about steel in the ground; it's the backbone of strategic autonomy. Pipelines, export terminals, and utility corridors would allow Canada to claim its place in the emerging geopolitical order. They would also signal to global investors that Canada is open for business and capable of delivering returns without political obstruction. The United States wants a stable, competent partner to help meet global energy needs. Increasingly, so does the rest of the world. But until we address our internal dysfunction and build, we're stuck. Stuck watching global opportunities pass us by. Stuck selling low while others sell high. Stuck in a conversation about sovereignty we're not structurally equipped to address, let alone win. When Carney meets with Trump again, he would do well to remember that economic independence, not rhetorical unity, is the bedrock of sovereignty. Without infrastructure, Canada brings only words to a hard-power conversation. Paraphrasing Thomas Hobbes, energy covenants without infrastructure are but words. It's time to stop posturing and start building. Marco Navarro-Genie is the vice-president of research at the Frontier Centre for Public Policy. He is co-author, with Barry Cooper, of Views expressed in this article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
Yahoo
22-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Record number of oil tankers enter Vancouver harbour in March
A record 30 oil tankers arrived in Vancouver harbour in March, uploading at the federal government terminal in Burnaby for delivery primarily to China and the U.S., pouring millions into provincial coffers. Retired Simon Fraser University physics professor David Huntley has tracked tanker arrivals under the Lions Gate Bridge to the Westridge terminal for the past 15 years. According to Huntley's latest report, published April 2, oil exports have jumped dramatically since a second pipeline opened in May of last year, rising from an average two a month to 25 a month in the fall and now a record 30 shipments for March. The bulk of these shipments are going to the U.S., China and the Pacific Area Lightering zone off the California coast, where oil is transferred mid-ocean to larger tankers for distribution around the world. 'After the Trans Mountain Expansion (TMX) was put in service on May 1, 2024, tankers were loaded at a rate of about 20 per month. The rate suddenly increased to 30 for March 2025,' Huntley said. He said TMX predicted shipments would go up to 34 a month once the pipeline was twinned. Chinese crude imports from Burnaby soared to an unprecedented 7.3 million barrels in March and are on pace to exceed that figure this month, according to data from Vortexa Ltd., which tracks water-borne oil and natural-gas shipments. Meanwhile, Chinese imports of U.S. oil have collapsed to three million barrels a month from a peak of 29 million last June, due to the countries' trade war. Most of China's imported oil comes from the Middle East and Russia. In January 2017, the provincial government permitted the twinning of the pipeline from Edmonton to Burnaby on certain conditions, including that then-owner Kinder Morgan would pay the province between $25 and $50 million a year for 20 years after completion of the project. 'This is the first time in B.C. that a company will share revenue from a large industrial project directly with the province,' said former Premier Christy Clark at the time. The following year, the federal government bought the project and, according to Huntley, the royalties deal remained. Payments should have begun on May 1, 2024. The provincial deal also ensured tankers would be escorted by a tug from Race Rocks in Haro Strait and that spill response capacity would be doubled. The federal government also promised a $1.5 billion oceans protection plan. The federal government says the twinning significantly increased royalties and tax revenues to all levels of government. TMX is forecast to add $9 billion in GDP to the Canadian economy and $2.8 billion in tax revenues. The federal government is committed to selling the project, for which it paid $34 billion to complete. Number of oil tankers entering Vancouver harbour jumps from two to 20 a month $34 billion shield: Crude oil carried to Burnaby by TMX could be shipped to Asia if U.S. tariffs are applied With a file from Bloomberg dcarrigg@
Russia Today
17-04-2025
- Business
- Russia Today
China replacing US oil with Canadian
China has been importing record amounts of crude oil from Canada and drastically reducing supplies from the US in light of the trade war with Washington, Bloomberg reported on Wednesday. Washington and Beijing have implemented a series of reciprocal tariff hikes over the past two months in light of which the latter has slashed purchases of US oil by roughly 90%, according to the outlet. China previously indicated that it would not implement more tariff hikes against US goods but would rather employ alternative ways to retaliate. Chinese crude imports from a port near Vancouver on Canada's Pacific coast soared to a record 7.3 million barrels in March and may exceed the figure this month, Bloomberg reported, citing data from London-based global oil and gas cargo tracking firm Vortexa Ltd. Chinese imports of US oil, meanwhile, have fallen to 3 million barrels per month from a peak of 29 million last June, it added. READ MORE: 'Stop blackmailing' – China to US China's direct imports of Canadian crude oil had historically been minimal, primarily due to infrastructure constraints. Chinese refineries have mainly sourced crude from the Middle East and Russia. Roughly 1.7% of China's total crude imports came from the US last year, according to Chinese customs data, down from 2.5% in 2023. Nearly all of Canada's oil is shipped to the US to be processed there or re-exported to Asia. However, the completion last May of the Trans Mountain Expansion pipeline, which takes crude to Canada's Pacific coast, provided the country with an alternative route to export more volumes directly, primarily to Asia, thus reducing its reliance on the US. READ MORE: Here's why Trump really wants to get his hands on Greenland and Canada 'Given the trade war, it's unlikely for China to import more US oil,' Bloomberg quoted Wenran Jiang, president of the Canada-China Energy & Environment Forum, as saying. 'They are not going to bank on Russian alone or Middle Eastern alone. Anything from Canada will be welcome news.' China accounted for roughly 5% of US crude oil exports last year, according to ship-tracking data from Kpler. Russia remains China's largest supplier of crude oil. Russian shipments to China reached the highest level on record in 2024. The increase in recent years is largely attributable to the discounts being offered on Russian crude. China's imports of oil from Saudi Arabia, its second-largest supplier, declined by 9% year-on-year in 2024.
Yahoo
29-01-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Canadian Natural Resources Limited Announces Swap Transaction
Calgary, Alberta--(Newsfile Corp. - January 29, 2025) - Canadian Natural Resources Limited (TSX: CNQ) (NYSE: CNQ) ("Canadian Natural" or the "Company") announces that pursuant to a 2017 agreement with Shell Canada Limited and affiliates ("Shell") and as a result of certain conditions being met, Canadian Natural and Shell are transacting an asset swap related to the Athabasca Oil Sands Project ("AOSP"). Effectively, Canadian Natural will swap 10% of its working interest in the Scotford Upgrader and Quest Carbon Capture and Storage ("Quest") facilities for Shell's remaining 10% working interest in the AOSP mines, associated reserves and additional various working interests in a number of other non-producing oil sands leases. As a result, and at close of the transaction, Canadian Natural will increase its working interest in the AOSP mines to 100%, subsequently increasing the Company's production by approximately 31,000 bbl/d and will own an 80% working interest in the Scotford Upgrader and Quest. The transaction does not include any exchange of cash, except for regular closing adjustments and is targeted to close by the end of Q1/25, subject to regulatory approvals. One of Canadian Natural's advantages is the size and strength of our long life, no decline Oil Sands Mining and Upgrading assets combined with our top tier operating cost driven through effective and efficient operations that generates significant and sustainable free cash flow for decades. This transaction further enhances Canadian Natural's advantage which is supported by a diversified sales strategy for its crude oil production including its long-term commitment of 169,000 bbl/d on the Trans Mountain Expansion ("TMX") pipeline and 87,500 bbl/d to the USGC that provides optionality and access to global markets. This transaction is not included in the Company's budgeted production guidance for 2025 issued on January 9, 2025 and as a result, 2025 production guidance will be revised upon closing of the transaction. Canadian Natural is a senior crude oil and natural gas production company, with continuing operations in its core areas located in Western Canada, the U.K. portion of the North Sea and Offshore Africa. CANADIAN NATURAL RESOURCES LIMITEDT (403) 517-6700 F (403) 517-7350 E ir@ 855 - 2 Street S.W. Calgary, Alberta, T2P SCOTT G. STAUTHPresident MARK A. STAINTHORPEChief Financial Officer LANCE J. CASSONManager, Investor Relations Trading Symbol - CNQToronto Stock ExchangeNew York Stock Exchange Certain information regarding the Company contained herein may constitute forward-looking statements under applicable securities laws. Such statements are subject to known or unknown risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated or implied in the forward-looking statements. The Company does not undertake to update forward-looking statements except as required by applicable securities laws. Refer to our website for detailed forward-looking statements and notes regarding Non-GAAP and Other Financial Measures at To view the source version of this press release, please visit Sign in to access your portfolio
