Supply limitations deprive US of Canadian oil: IHS-CERA

The United States is being artificially deprived of oil that is available because of limitations in the supply system from Canada's oil sands. This is the opinion of James Burkhard, managing director of IHS-CERA's global oil and gas group. IHS-CERA is a global information company that specializes in energy, economics and supply chain management. Burkhard's comment was contained in written testimony to the US Department of State Energy and Power Subcommittee. The Department of State is expected to make a decision on TransCanada Copr's proposed Keystome XL cross-border pipeline in November.

If oil producers in Canada cannot broaden their reach into the US Markey, Burkhard said, they will develop export markets in Asia. Acknowledging that oil sands-derived crude oil is controversial and comes with an environmental cost, he pointed out that this cost is not significantly higher than that associated with other oil consumed in the US.

“Life-cycle GHG emissions for the average oil sands product actually imported into the United States are just 6% higher than those from the average crude oil consumed in the US,” Burkhard said.

Numerous other witnesses at the hearing argued that the pipeline will ease US consumers' burden as they struggle with soaring gasoline costs, create thousands of new jobs, and provide energy security for the United States.