Dear Editor,
Please find attached a letter to the editor I wrote to the Athabasca Advocate in 2008 talking about developing new customers because the US is not a good trading partner.
The letter seems very apropos to our current situation with the US. It should be noted that in 2008 Stephen Harper was prime minister, who of course, was a conservative. This issue is something that transcends party lines and one party should not be blamed for the current situation.
I might also point out that the natural gas pipeline I spoke about in the letter has finally been built. This pipeline, the Coastal Gas Link, was built to supply an LNG plant at Kitimat, BC. The plant is on schedule to start shipping LNG in July/August of this year.
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The decision to kill the Keystone XL pipeline is a gift wrapped in disappointment. The US has been a major trading market, not a true trading partner. Time and again the US has demonstrated that Canada is a cute cousin to help out every now and again. We have been wooed into complacency. We have looked for markets outside North America half-heartedly. Obama’s decision is a wake-up call exposing our precarious position. The same precarious position any company or county faces when there is only one customer.
There are three markets ready for our energy. The first is Europe, the second Asia, and the third is replacing foreign oil being imported through the St. Lawrence Seaway. These are the same markets the US is targeting. Within these three markets, there are two opportunities. Everyone in Canada is aware of the opportunity for oil exports. The northern Gateway, Pipeline East, and Keystone have been in the media for several years. The other opportunity is for the export of natural gas in the form of liquid natural gas (NLG) to Europe and Asia and developing natural gas usage in Eastern Canada. Obama’s decision should be a wakeup call for Alberta, British Columbia, Saskatchewan, and Canada’s energy industry to hurry up and get rigged up to exploit these markets before other countries leave us in the dust.
Natural Gas seems to be the best bridge gap available, before solar, wind, etc. becomes truly viable energy options. The Western Provinces have huge gas reserves waiting to be exported. Australia, the US, and Saudi Arabia are deep into developing natural gas markets to both Asia and Europe. Russia currently supplies gas to Europe. However, the EU is tired of being held hostage by the whims of Vladimir Putin and is in the market for another supplier. Why is there not cooperation between Alberta and BC to push hard and quick to build LNG plants and meet the demand?
Besides exporting raw gas, we can also be exporting technology to use natural gas. (There are issues when using natural gas because one litre of natural gas has significantly less available energy than diesel or gas.) As an example, a Calgary company that sells and distributes natural gas has also developed the expertise to use natural gas. This company is exporting that technology by opening terminals in Houston, TX and Denver, CO. This technology and these companies should be vigorously promoted here at home and to all our potential markets.
Getting back to oil, by promoting our oil as ‘dirty’, the US is getting a jump on the race to export to Europe and Asia. Notice that Obama did not mention the hundreds of thousands of rail cars hauling oil to Texas refineries. He failed to mention the huge carbon foot print left by rail transportation. Obama also failed to mention the greenhouse emissions spewed by US coal fired electrical plants. It appears to me that by deflecting attention away from emitters, US legislators and industry leaders are hoping to dodge regulatory pressure to clean up their act. Criticizing the splinter in your eye and ignoring the plank in my eye is a classic strategy from biblical times!
It is time to start a marketing campaign letting the world know how ‘dirty’ US energy is. Further, we should be promoting the amazing technological advancements made in the Canadian oil patch. Personally, I am amazed how pressure from environmentalists has pushed oil companies to find ways to decrease fresh water use, greenhouse gas emissions, and impact in the boreal forest.
Certainly the oil patch has more work to do. It’s not a matter of sweeping that fact under the carpet. Let’s acknowledge that the energy industry has to clean up its act. Then let’s start promoting the huge strides already made and the improvements being worked on. These advancements should be explained and promoted not only at home, but around the world!
Once again, the decision to officially kill the Keystone pipeline presents the Canadian oil patch a great opportunity. We are forcibly being weaned off the easy market access of the US. As demonstrated on multiple occasions, easy market access comes with the trade-off of being tied to the whims of a single customer. The same scenario is played over and over again in multiple industries. Rather than just complaining about it over and over again, it is time to develop relationships with customers who are honest affiliates and not quasi partners who talk a great game while trying to make an end run around our agreements and regulations!
Tom Krawiec
Athabasca
