Alberta Premier Jason Kenney says that Canada can boost its oil production by 900,000 barrels
a day to make up for supply lost due to the war in Ukraine.
Premier Kenney made the statement in testimony he delivered before a U.S. Senate committee.
About 300,000 barrels a day of unused capacity currently exists in the North American pipeline
system, which should be filled this year through higher output, Kenney said.
Another 200,000 barrels of crude oil could be shipped by rail and “if midstream companies get
serious about it, and if regulators approve it,” a further 400,000 barrels could be added through
pipeline reversals and technical improvements, said the Alberta premier.
Boosting Canada’s oil output by that amount would not happen fast. Canada exported about 3.9
million barrels a day of crude oil to the U.S. in the first two months of this year, according to data
from the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
By 2024, the completion of the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion project to British Columbia
will give Canada even more capacity to ship oil to the U.S., Kenney said.
“My point is, let’s be visionary about this. Let’s have a North American energy alliance, and let’s
get another major pipeline done because we’ve got the third-largest reserves on Earth up in
Alberta,” said the premier.
The price of West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil, the U.S. standard, is currently at $113.90
U.S. per barrel. Brent crude oil, the international benchmark, is trading at $113.07 U.S. a barrel.