(Oil Price) – The chief executives of some of the largest Canadian energy companies called on Canada’s main political parties to declare a Canadian energy crisis and key projects in the “national interest,” which would speed up reforms, planning, and construction of new oil and gas pipelines and LNG terminals.
The open letter from 14 CEOs representing the four largest pipeline companies and 10 largest oil and natural gas companies was delivered to Canada’s political party leaders on Wednesday.
“This is in answer to inquiries on how Canada can respond to escalating global energy security challenges and the urgent need for pragmatic energy strategies,” the signatories say.
“We are at a turning point in Canada’s history and national interest. There is increasing public support to urgently grow our energy sector and build energy infrastructure, including new oil and natural gas pipelines and LNG terminals, to expand Canada’s energy exports,” the industry leaders said.
“Canadians increasingly see the importance of using our abundant energy to ensure Canada can defend its sovereignty, play a role in the world as a force for good, and improve our overall economic competitiveness and prosperity.”
According to the CEOs, “By declaring a Canadian energy crisis and key projects in the “national interest,” the federal government will be able to use all its available emergency powers to ensure that the dramatic regulatory restructuring required to expand the oil and natural gas sector is rapidly achieved.”
For new infrastructure to be built, Canada’s federal political leaders can create an environment that will simplify regulation, commit to firm deadlines for project approvals, grow production, attract investments, and encourage Indigenous co-investment opportunities, the industry executives noted.
Canadian policymakers are now more inclined than ever to find alternative export avenues for Canadian oil, almost all of which currently flows south to the U.S.
The province of Saskatchewan in Western Canada will consider all permits for pipelines crossing its territory as “pre-approved,” Premier Scott Moe said last month, writing “Effective Immediately: All pipeline permits going east, west, or south received in Saskatchewan will be considered pre-approved.”
“We encourage all provinces and the federal government to do the same,” Moe wrote on X.
The U.S. tariff threat was a wake-up call for Canadian policymakers that the federal and provincial governments may have too hastily scrapped over the past decade Alberta-to-coast pipeline projects that could have diversified Canada’s oil and gas exports.
By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com
