The kinder, gentler energy superpower (Canada!)

[phantom power]

Oh. Fucking. Hell.

Canada is the kind of oil supplier the U.S. can rely on, and no one knows it better than the Texans

In a twisting turn of geography, geology and history, Texans are hungry for Alberta oil.

As the U.S. seeks to decrease its dependence on crude from unstable regions and OPEC countries, and with the oil sands booming, Canada has supplanted Saudi Arabia as the leading supplier of crude to the U.S., claiming the No. 1 spot in 2004.

The push to develop major oil pipelines over thousands of kilometres from Alberta to Texas represents a major shift in the movement of Canadian oil. Growing shipments of Alberta crude to the U.S. for refining are deepening the two countries' mutual dependence. The U.S. now buys almost 100 per cent of our oil exports, and Canadian exports to the U.S. could increase to 3 million barrels a day by 2015, from roughly 2 million barrels a day currently.

For the Americans, it can hardly flow fast enough. "The world's a more dangerous place these days; having our friend to the north getting us some crude is good," said Lane Riggs, a vice-president at Valero Energy Corp., an independent company that refines upwards of 30,000 barrels of Alberta crude a day and is hungry for more.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080127.woilsandsmainpart2/BNStory/oilsands/home

[GliderGuider]

1. Why does this not make me feel all warm and fuzzy?

Oh yeah, NAFTA Article 605 means that "all your oil are belong to us"...

Did you know that Canada imports over half the amount of oil we export? That's what makes the proportionality clause in 605 so damn bad for us. Unless we abrogate, we may be forced to increase our imports to fulfill our requirements, rather than just reallocate our own oil for our own use.

[phantom power]

2. I did not know that.

I suppose I should just apologize in advance, for whatever bugfuckery is eventually committed in my name.

[GliderGuider]

3. Canada's oil picture

Per the EIA, as of 2006:

Production: 3.3 mbpd
Consumption: 2.2 mbpd
Exports: 2.0 mbpd
Imports: 1.0 mbpd

[hunter]

4. Where do Canada's oil imports come from?

If it's Venezuela, it's almost sort of funny -- it's like Canada is laundering oil for Valero.

Half the freeper world is already convinced Valero is a front company for Hugo Chavez since so many Citgo stations became Valero stations. They can't wrap their little brains around the fact that Valero is just another dirty oil company that's bought itself a goodly chunk of the GOP.

(Um, yeah, guys, Valero was named after the Alamo, in the same wacky Texas tradition that George W. Bush's oil company was named Arbusto.)

[GliderGuider]

5. Import sources

40%+ from the North Sea, 40%+ from OPEC (top countries are Algeria, KSA, Iraq), the rest from a variety of smaller suppliers, including Venezuela and Nigeria.

[hunter]

6. Ouch.

That's got "peak oil" written all over it.

[NNadir]

7. Excepting the new waste land of Australia, Canada has the world's largest energy deposits.

It is the world's largest producer of uranium.