But why state the obvious?:
On Tuesday, the Biden administration followed Canada’s lead and banned petroleum imports from Russia, in response to its unprovoked invasion of Ukraine.
While neither country relies heavily on Russian energy — last year, the United States imported an average of 709,000 barrels per day (bpd) worth of crude and petroleum products from Russia, representing around eight per cent of its total imports, and Canada received 10,000 bpd of refined petroleum products — it could make a difference at a time when gas prices are approaching $2 a litre in Canada and have exceeded $4 a gallon south of the border.
The even bigger challenge is persuading other countries to reduce their dependence on Russian oil, which represents 10 per cent of the world’s supply and is a key driver of the Russian economy, and thus its ability to continue to fund its campaign in Ukraine.
The United Kingdom announced that it will be banning Russian oil, but will take a phased approach that will see it continue to purchase supplies from the Russians through the end of the year. It would be even harder for Europe to follow suit, as the continent purchases around 60 per cent of Russia’s oil exports and relies on Moscow for 40 per cent of its natural gas.
In an effort to cut Russian President Vladimir Putin off from a crucial source of funds and stem the economic pain caused by surging oil prices, Biden has been trying to persuade other countries to increase production. But this means engaging with another cast of unsavoury characters.
The easiest solution would be convincing the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia to vastly increase production, as they have the capacity to do so. But there’s some bad blood there: in the lead-up to the 2020 election, Biden referred to Saudi Arabia as a “pariah” state and said that its government has “very little social redeeming value.” ...
To summarize: in order to punish its longtime enemy, which it tried to be friends with, but is now quite sure is an enemy again (Russia), the U.S. turned to a friend that should be an enemy (Saudi Arabia), which won’t talk to the Americans because they’re helping a common enemy (Iran), while negotiating with another enemy (Venezuela), even though it’s friends with the enemy that started this whole crisis (Putin). Got that?
Lost in all this salacious courting of dictators and autocrats is much talk about the role Canada could play in contributing to the West’s energy security — largely because we no longer have the ability to do so.
It’s true that Canada supplies the U.S. with around 4.3 million bpd of oil and could increase that to some extent. According to Alberta Energy Minister Sonya Savage, there is excess capacity in Enbridge’s Line 3 pipeline and along rail lines, which could handle around 200,000 bpd.
And some companies do have the ability to increase output. Canadian Natural, for example, said it planned to increase production by about five per cent this year. Others will undoubtedly follow suit if prices remain high and they have the means to do so. ...
The tragedy is that if governments — including the Biden administration, which nixed the Keystone XL pipeline on Day 1 — had simply gotten out of the way and allowed decisions over pipelines and other infrastructure projects to be made by private businesses and landowners, including First Nations, Canada would have a much greater ability to produce and export its natural resources, at little to no cost to the treasury.
(Sidebar: because there is money to be made.)
Instead, billions of dollars worth of public money has been poured into the Keystone and Trans Mountain pipelines and the leader of the free world is running cap-in-hand to some decidedly unfree countries because they seem like the lesser evil at the moment.
**
Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe says he’s not calling on Ottawa to sanction a Russian oligarch who’s a major shareholder in a U.K.-incorporated multinational manufacturing company that operates a steel mill in Regina.
The British government, claiming he’s using Evraz to help destabilize Ukraine during Russia’s invasion, has sanctioned Roman Abramovich over his close ties with the Kremlin.
Europe's problem is that it depended on Russian gas (from the country one is supposed to hate now - how fashionable!).
God forbid we should depend on out own gas and generate some revenue.
Kind of like this guy:
Environment Minister Jonathan Wilkinson yesterday disclosed his wife Tara owns stock in one of Canada’s largest gas companies. Wilkinson has repeatedly invoked the couple’s school-age daughters in justifying federal climate change programs, but omitted mention of family shares in Enbridge Inc.: “It is something we must take action on in the short term if we want to leave a livable planet for our kids.”
**
Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson yesterday disclosed his wife Tara bought shares in a leading defence contractor five weeks after he was reappointed to cabinet. Mrs. Wilkinson is the most active stock trader of any cabinet spouse with shares in Pfizer, Enbridge and other federally regulated firms: “My spouse has purchased shares in Lockheed Martin Corporation.”
**
Climate Change Minister Jonathan Wilkinson and staff took more than $100,000 worth of flights in the past year, records show. “It should not be free to pollute,” Wilkinson said earlier in announcing a 240 percent increase in the carbon tax.
And here is Mr. Many Hats stumbling over his own feet embrace and walking back from rejecting the reality of petroleum or even profit for someone who isn't him or his family:
Federal natural resources minister Jonathan Wilkinson said his government is interested in helping Europe replace Russian natural gas and that shipping more natural gas to Europe would not contradict Canada’s climate goals.
What a difference an invasion makes!
No comments:
Post a Comment