Canada look to abandon US for Asia

Canadian prime minister Stephen Harper has said that Canada will continue to 'diversify its energy exports', after disappointing news that Barack Obama has rejected the Keystone XL pipeline.

The Oklahoman has called the president's decision 'political', with the US election coming up shortly. Obama doesn’t want to lose the many US environmentalists who are opposed to the so-called 'big oil', fearing environmental damage if construction of the pipeline were to go ahead.

Canada may now look to cut ties with the US and diversify its energy exports, making it into a global energy superpower. The pipeline would let crude oil flow to Asia from Alberta’s oilsands via a Canadian port. The Asian economy has been cited as a 'tremendous opportunity' for Canada, with Asia already accounting for around ten per cent of total exports from Alberta.

From a Chinese perspective, Wenran Jiang, political science professor at the University of Alberta and senior fellow at the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada told Bloomberg: “China’s energy security isn’t simply about shipping oil back to China… There’s also trying to increase overall global supply of oil to help manage price and supply.”

Posted by Joseph Hutton