Canadian officials spoke with Trump administration representatives about a proposed revival of part of the canceled Keystone XL oil pipeline at a meeting in Houston this week, Canada’s Natural Resources Minister Tim Hodgson said Tuesday.
The proposed project by Calgary-based South Bow pipeline company and its U.S. partner Bridger Pipeline — which could increase Canada’s crude exports to the U.S. by more than 12 percent if it goes ahead — was one of the topics Hodgson said he and Canada’s ambassador, U.S. Energy Secretary Chris and Mark Wise. Insider Doug Burgum.
Canada is framing the prospect of a new cross-border oil pipeline as a way it could help the U.S. achieve energy security, even as the war in Iran disrupts supplies and raises prices for consumers, Hodgson said in an interview at S&P Global’s CERAWeek conference.
“Yes, (the US) is the biggest oil producer in the world, they’re at 12-13 million barrels a day – but they consume 20,” Hodgson said. “And they realize that Canada makes up about 63 percent of that difference.”
President Donald Trump’s tariff wars and threats of annexation have strained relations with Canada. But Trump has also repeatedly called for lower oil prices, and many U.S. refiners depend on the roughly 4.4 million barrels a day of exports that Canada sends south of the border.
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Hodgson declined to say whether the Trump administration has indicated it will support the South Bow/Bridger project or make any efforts to expedite the required US regulatory approvals.
“I would say they (Wright and Burgum) are looking carefully at all options to make sure the world has the oil it needs to run,” Hodgson said.
The White House did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
Hodgson said he also made it clear during the meeting that Canada is working aggressively to expand its oil exports to non-US markets by completing a planned 300,000 bpd expansion of the Trans Mountain pipeline that runs from Alberta to the Pacific Coast.
Prime Minister Mark Carney has traveled the globe seeking new customers for Canadian energy in an effort to reduce the country’s dependence on the US market. “What we need to do, as the prime minister has said, is not to sell less to the United States.
We have to sell more to other people,” Hodgson said.
