U.S. Oil Industry Urges Canadian Oilsands Execs to Step It Up

Canadian executives were urged to massively step up oilsands production to five million barrels of oil per day in a relatively short period of time by their counterparts in the U.S., according to documents obtained by the CBC.

Executives from U.S. oil multinationals and Canadian oilsands producers met for two days in Houston, Texas, in the days following the election of Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s government last year, the broadcaster reported Wednesday.

They recommended a five-fold increase in oilsands production fairly quickly, according to minutes of the meeting obtained by CBC.
The Conservatives have no intention of ‘’streamlining” environmental assessment to hasten oilsands development, said PMO spokesman Dmitri Soudas.

”Canada’s natural resources will be developed but that will not be done at the expense of the environment,” said Soudas.

Canada exports much of its oil to the United States. However, increasing production to five million barrels per day would be enough to satisfy a quarter of U.S. consumption and almost half its total imports.

However, such a massive production increase would require new refineries and pipelines to transport the crude from the Alberta oilsands as far as California and Texas, according to the document.

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