Just as he promised he would do if the United States rejected the Keystone XL pipeline, Prime Minister Stephen Harper headed to Beijing earlier this week on a four-day trade mission in which he is expected to seek a deal to sell millions of barrels of Canadian oil to China. Since China is aggressively pursuing energy deals around the world to support its economic expansion, expect Harper to come home with an official signature on the dotted line.
Harper is accompanied on the mission by dozens of Canadian business executives, including several from Syncrude, the consortium that produces thousands of barrels of oil daily from the Athabasca oil sands. That’s the place the Keystone XL pipeline — proposed by TransCanada, another north-of-the-border energy giant — would have funneled 700,000 barrels per day to the United States, if not for Obama’s rejection. Some portion of the estimated 20,000 new jobs that would have been created here will also be exported to China.
Meanwhile, here in the United States, besides continued high unemployment, drivers endured the most expensive January gas prices ever, according to the Los Angeles Times. “January is typically a month of falling gasoline prices because fuel demand falters in the slower travel weeks that follow the year-end holidays,” the Times reports. “Not so this year.”
The nationwide average price of regular gas was $3.37 per gallon last month, compared with $2.71 in January 2010 — a 24 percent increase. And things are going to get tougher for gasoline buyers because prices traditionally rise in February and March as spring approaches. That’s when refiners must switch over to more expensive federally mandated formulas that result in slightly lower emissions. According to USA Today, energy experts expect prices to be in the $4-per-gallon range this summer.
It took a real ignorant person to not know this was was coming.
Robert Redford said that America should not be addicted to oil. Addiction to insolvency is a much better choice.
The oil from the Keystone pipeline was destined for shipment to China anyway, and would have had no effect on American gasoline prices.
@Liberal1 (objectivity): @Liberal1 (objectivity): You must be a hit every where you post! As a matter of fact, you should be the poster child for “Ignorance is Bliss”. There is even a web site for folks like you who are confident their limited knowledge encompasses all knowledge on a subject! http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=ignorance+is+bliss&qpvt=ignorance+is+bliss&FORM=VDRE#
Mr Liberal- Have you forgotten about balance of trade and borrowing to remain solvent? Evil profiteering oil companies pay huge taxes in many varying forms.
Remember to vote D in the next federal election and drive right off the cliff.
You must be ecstatic. Harper dealt with the Chinese yesterday. Uranium, coal, oil, and precious metals to the Utopian Red Chinese.
American refineries are state-of-the-art.
They are as clean as possible given the limitations of modern technology.
The Chinese, otoh, just make it and leave all the mess to spew out of the chimney stack.
Their own land gets poisoned, so they buy land in Africa to grow their foods.
Their own air gets polluted so they hand out surgical masks to all as a way to pretend people aren’t being sickened.
OUR air (The West Coast of the USA) even gets as much as 25% of its pollution on any given day from across the ocean from China.
Here’s more info for the “objective” Liberal.
Harper told your czar laden administration to shove your environmental rules and to keep on studying. 3 plus years and more litigation is not enough. The Canadian Supreme Court threw out the Pembina Institute and Sierra Club lawsuits, both on the same day. It was last October, if I remember right.
Sun News, out of Toronto, has investigated a Rockefeller foundation, that has funded the Canadian miscreants-WWF,Greenpeace, Sierra Club, Pembina Institute, etc., who organized protests and filed nuisance lawsuits. The amount given was over 28 million dollars. Robert Kennedy has been told to mind his own business. Its called influence peddling and a grevious charge of interference.
If Harper wants to deal with China, we should let him. All goods and services between Canada and the U.S. should be curtailed. Maybe the Canadians can drive Chinese cars.
Zelsdorf Ragshaft lll
that’s what I was expecting from some, you said all goods and services between CANADA AND US
should be curtailed,
what for? do you mean that CANADA IS NOT A SOVEREIGN COUNTRY? THINK AGAIN,
THEY ARE SELF SERVING and able to take care of themselves without depending on anyone,
but they are and always where loyal to USA as neighbor good exchange and closeness in all parts of exchanges, as looking for each other’s backs, and peace and freedom seeker, the only true partners ever ezisted between the two countries as a respect and friendly bargainning busyness from one to the other,
regardless of size and power and politic,
so don’t spit that arrogant comment at them. you have the same attitude as OBAMA ARROGANCE ON
A DEAL PROMISES,
Two separate arguments, and neither are true.
The Chinese have already been financing an alternative route from the Alberta resources thru the Rockies to the Pacific Ocean, where it’s a straight shot to the East. They have no need to see the oil shipped to Port Arthur for refining, loaded onto a supertanker that then has to take the torturous route around the Cape of Good Hope – the most treacherous waters – when it can have a direct Pacific route instead. Only the most gullible buy that crap.
Port Arthur refineries have been expanding their exports to Europe and Latin America.. not China. Whether the refined crude stays in the US, or is exported, will be a free market supply/demand decision.
Fact is, with the Chinese already a step ahead of the US in facilitating/financing a pipeline for their own use, and Canada entertaining a trade agreement with China, there seems to always have been an intent to sell to both nations. It’s not an “either/or” scenario. And Canada is just more than a decade behind the US, who concocted a trade agreement with China under Clinton in 1999. Don’t see much to get all up in arms about.
Second point. Supply and demand, as well as base costs to refine, *always* play into price. But then, most lib/progs always demonstrate a kindergarten grasp of economics and the free market. So no surprise.
BTW, oil guy from Alberta. What do you think about the Hubbard’s cupboard peak oil theory being blown out of the water with the rising production of light and medium oil out of Alberta, reversing the declining/depleting theories from 100 some odd years ago. That’ll pique some of the peakniks, don’t you think?
@MataHarley: I have done work on reentries where one uses an existing pilot hole which has a depleted driving mechanism, pressure test the casing, drill up to 5 horizontal legs and heaven forbid, call in the fracmasters. Its an economy of scale and more environmentally friendly.
In the old days, one could expect 20%, at most, for oil extraction. Today, we estimating up to 50%.
Mata, of course, you are correct. The doom and gloom crowd will have to reevaluate the rate of the sky falling in.
oil guy from ALBERTA
HI
THAT CROWD is stuck in time, they have not grown in brain power, to see the advance of knowledge
for BIG COMPANIES who spend billions on expertise to always updated their work force knowledge,
bye