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(Bloomberg) — Alberta’s government has been talking with domestic energy companies about building more oil export pipelines to the US to take advantage of an incoming White House administration with a friendlier attitude toward oil.
Danielle Smith’s government has spoken with pipeline operators including Enbridge Inc., TC Energy Corp and South Bow Corp. about expanding oil export conduits to the US, including by twinning existing lines, before President-elect Donald Trump takes office in January, Smith said in an interview.
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Alberta, holder of the world’s third-largest oil reserves, is one of the biggest foreign suppliers of crude to the US, and Smith is pushing for even more access. In previous US administrations, Canada faced pushback in building new pipelines to its southern neighbor, which depressed Canadian oil prices and stymied investment.
“I know the Americans have increased production pretty dramatically in the last 10 years, but it might not always be that way,” she said, speaking after her province joined the recently established Governors’ Coalition for Energy Security as the first non-US state member. “They need to know that if they’re looking for additional supply, they shouldn’t be looking to Iran or Venezuela. They should be looking to their friend up north.”
Trump has been a vocal advocate for oil and gas interests, pushing for more domestic drilling. During his previous term in office, from 2016 to 2020, Trump reversed the Obama administration’s rejection of TC Energy’s controversial Keystone XL pipeline, which would have increased Canadian oil exports to the US. Later, President Joe Biden canceled the approval on his first day in office and the pipeline was never completed.
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Keystone XL would have opened a entirely new pipeline route to the US, making regulatory approval more challenging. Building future lines along existing pipeline right-of-ways would probably be easier as would including US companies in projects to de-risk them, Smith said. “It would be helpful to have an American partner in the pipeline construction and so I think perhaps the energy companies might go about it a little bit of a different way,” she said.
The start in May of the expanded Trans Mountain pipeline, which added almost 900,000 barrels a day of capacity from Alberta to the British Columbia coast, has prompted Alberta oil producers to start projects that will increase oil production to fill the extra pipeline space. When that will happen is disputed but companies including Enbridge, operator of the Mainline system, the largest oil export pipeline system in Canada, already are planning to expand pipeline systems by the end of 2026.
Smith has been embroiled in a fight with Canada’s liberal Prime Minister Justin Trudeau over federal environmental policies. When Trudeau announced a planned cap on oil and gas emissions earlier this month, Smith threatened to defy the legislation under a provincial law that orders agencies to not enforce or aid in enforcing federal rules deemed unconstitutional or “causing harm to Albertans.”
Alberta is willing to join the federal government in a “Team Canada” approach to dealing with the Trump administration but the admissions cap must first be scrapped, said Smith, who plans to attend Trump’s inauguration and watch the swearing-in ceremony from the Canadian embassy. “If not, we’re going to continue to build our relationships with the US on our own,” she said.
“For Alberta’s story to be told and Alberta’s interest to be represented, I’ve gotta do it myself.”
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