With the oilsands and Bakken fields churning, Canada and the United States are emerging energy powers. They’re also rivals.
In the crude oil space, North American production is on pace to roughly equal to demand but natural gas production is set to far exceed what’s needed. Exporting liquified natural gas is going to be a booming industry.
The problem is that export facilities don’t exist. Canada looked to be way ahead in the race to be the export hub, with a closer proximity to China and large projects approved on the West coast. Those have been slowed by environmental concerns and slow development in remote areas.
In the early days, the US seemed to concede defeat. The administration was reluctant to issue permits to exporters and had granted just one. In May, however, Obama changed course. In the past five months, the administration has approved three more projects and another 20 applications are in queue.
Canada had a massive headstart but is bumbling it on environmental concerns and slow development in remote areas. Canada also continues to sell its oil at a $20 discount because its international (ex-US) export capacity is virtually nil.
Oh, and there’s a third player in the LNG/FX scene, Australia is way out ahead on developing its exports.
