2012 U.S. Presidential Election

[Roy Karrde]

to "spite the U.S."? it has nothing to do with emotion or allegiance: whichever route is the most profitable will be taken

are you sad that the price of albertan crude might increase because of the future pursuit of non-continental buyers rather than strictly from the easy access to gulf coast refineries that xl promised? this was inevitable, and was already being developed. nothing restricts the sale of albertan crude to the united states other than the benefit of proximity.

the problem with your initial premise is that you have somehow connected 'obama's damage' to the loss of discounted crude. but without damage you also have the loss of discounted crude. that's the whole point of keystone xl - to capture the oversupply in a profitable manner. why would canadian suppliers have any interest in it otherwise?

I already answered you, this does not exist in a bubble, the route to China and the route to the U.S. does not cost the same or face the same difficulties. The route going to China not only causes Harper to pay a steeper political price, but also takes longer to complete. Thus why it was considered a bluff. How ever apparently Harper sees Obama's actions a slight to Canada by his comment ( “Look, the very fact that a ‘no’ could even be said underscores to our country that we must diversify our energy export markets,” ).

Not everything is about profit, especially when it comes to the economic and political hurdles that Harper has to go through to have the oil pipeline go completely through Canada and not through the U.S.

And I will remind you, that Canada did not meet with China for plans on shipping oil to their country, until the Keystone Pipeline stalled.

Canada is now looking to Asian countries to market its abundance of oil, natural gas and minerals as plans to build the proposed Keystone XL pipeline have stalled with the U.S. administration.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper will travel to China next month to discuss selling Canada’s bounty to the rapidly growing nation.

The preferred initial plan was to build the $7 billion Keystone pipeline to deliver Alberta’s oilsands crude to refineries in Texas on the Gulf of Mexico.

Harper reasoned that the U.S. government would prefer to deal with a friendly neighbor to help meet its energy needs while creating thousands of jobs.

With widespread opposition by U.S. environmentalists, the Obama administration has delayed its decision on whether to approve the project proposed by energy giant TransCanada Pipelines.

The new plan would market to China and Asian countries through the proposed Northern Gateway pipeline that would transport Alberta’s oil and natural gas to British Columbia for shipment by tankers.

Environmentalists’ concerns about the Gateway project, proposed by Enbridge, are being reviewed at National Energy Board hearings under way in Kitimat, British Columbia.

http://www.theledger.com/article/201...s-Bounty&tc=ar