After meeting with his global counterparts in Paris this week, Canada’s natural resources minister pledged to pump out more oil and gas to alleviate the energy crisis in Europe.
Oil and natural gas are in short supply in parts of the world after many countries sanctioned Russia following its invasion of Ukraine.
The Canadian industry wants to increase production, but there are questions about how much extra oil and natural gas can be pulled from the ground and what impact it could have on the world, especially considering oil production in Western Canada is already near record levels.
Jonathan Wilkinson announced Thursday that Canada’s industry is expected to increase oil production by 200,000 barrels per day, and the equivalent of 100,000 barrels of natural gas per day, by the end of the year.
Currently, Canada produces about 4.7 million barrels per day of oil, and exports about four million barrels per day.
World’s energy woes
Commodity prices have spiked in the last month as Russia’s exports, from oil to coal, have fallen. It’s why gasoline prices hit record levels in Canada this month.
Europe is the biggest customer for Russia’s oil and natural gas. That dependance is why European countries are having a difficult time following in the footsteps of Canada and the U.S., which both banned imports of Russian oil and gas.
WATCH | Searching for solutions as countries ban Russian oil:
Searching for solutions as countries ban Russian oil
7 days ago
Duration 8:10
With more countries banning Russian oil and looking to make deals on Saudi Arabia’s oil supply, it raises ethical issues considering the country’s human rights record. Plus, the opportunity this presents for countries to look at more environmentally friendly solutions. Ginella Massa talks to Deborah Yedlin, chair of the Calgary Chamber of Commerce, and Tzeporah Berman, program director for the environmental organization Stand.Earth. 8:10
“We have our European allies who are facing the prospect of not being able to heat their homes or fill up their trucks to actually service their grocery stores and their restaurants. It would be incredibly irresponsible for Canada to say ‘we don’t care,'” Wilkinson told reporters on Thursday.
Canada’s role
Last year, Russia was exporting about 4.6 million barrels per day of crude oil, according to energy consultancy group Wood Mackenzie. Those exports have fallen because of the widespread economic and energy-focused sanctions against the country.
If Canada can boost its own oil output by 200,000 barrels per day, that in itself won’t have much of an impact on offsetting those Russian barrels. If anything, it could help the United States, which is looking to replace about 500,000 barrels of petroleum that it was importing from Russia.
Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson, pictured here at the UN climate conference in November, wants Canada to produce more oil and gas in 2022. (Kyle Bakx/CBC)
“Canada on its own is not going to solve the issue,” said Wilkinson. “But Canada coming forward in conjunction with Brazil, in conjunction with the United States, and I’m sure there will be others, will help us to remove some of the tightness in the market.”
While many Canadian companies say they want to help by increasing production, there are also some critics who say the federal government hasn’t been supportive enough of the oilpatch, in terms of pipeline regulations and a proposed cap on emissions, among other policies.
“It’s a temporary respite to the negative approach the federal government has taken toward energy development,” said Robert Cooper, with the institutional sales and trading team at Calgary-based investment firm Acumen Capital Partners.
“I don’t think that anyone in downtown Calgary believes that there’s been a sudden change from the federal government as it pertains to resource development in this country,” he said.
Turning up the taps easier said than done
For Canadian oil companies to produce more oil is much easier said than done, considering production levels were already high this winter. Alberta’s oil production hit a record high in October and was also a record for the first 10 months of any year, which shows that industry hasn’t been holding back on turning on the taps.
“My initial reaction is a bit of confusion, to be honest,” said Rory Johnston, founder of the Commodity Context newsletter, about the federal announcement about increasing oil exports.
There is spare pipeline and rail capacity to boost exports, he said, the question is about the extra crude.
“It’s difficult to see right now where a substantial or material increase in Canadian oil production could actually fill those increased pipelines, at this moment,” he said.
Oil output can fluctuate
It’s also worth considering that Canada’s oil output can fluctuate from month-to-month because of cold weather, facility maintenance, and other impacts.
Last year, exports reached four million barrels per day of oil, but were as low as 3.6 million during some months. Those swings don’t have an impact on global oil markets, which shows how even if Canada is able to increase total capacity by 200,000 barrels per day, it’s a relatively insignificant amount.
The potential boost in crude also might not happen with regularity, considering the nature of the industry.
Building new oilsands facilities or expansions often take several years to develop and require billions of dollars of investment.
The Fort Hills oilsands mine began production in 2018. The facility hasn’t operated at full capacity in recent years. (Kyle Bakx/CBC)
Oil major Cenovus has said any production increase this year will be marginal, while Suncor is expecting an increase of nearly 100,000 barrels per day from the Fort Hills oilsands facility, north of Fort McMurray.
The mine was operating at about 50 per cent capacity, but the company told CBC News the 194,000 barrel per day facility should be operating at about 90 per cent later this year.
There are opportunities to increase production to address the affordability issues in North America and the energy security problem around the world, but it’s not a certainty, said Tristan Goodman, president of the Explorers and Producers Association of Canada.
“You will need investors to have confidence that they should increase production. And if you’re not going to have investor confidence, you will not see increased production,” he said.
Tristan Goodman, with the Explorers and Producers Association of Canada, takes part in a panel focusing on Canadian energy at CERAWeek by S&P Global in Houston earlier this month. (Kyle Bakx/CBC)
In recent years, investors have pushed oilpatch companies to give more cash to shareholders instead of increasing oil and gas production.
“In the long-term, or in the mid-term, there does need to be a conversation with Canadians over infrastructure related to natural gas and oil,” he said.
Where will it go?
Even though Europe is the target destination for any increases in Canadian oil and natural gas, that’s not a straightforward journey from Western Canada. The overwhelming majority of Canada’s export pipelines head south into the U.S.
If more Canadian oil is shipped to Europe, it would likely first have to travel all the way down to the Gulf Coast to be loaded onto a tanker, before setting sail across the Atlantic.
It’s a similar situation with natural gas as Canada does not have way to export to Europe without first traveling south across the border.
Still, even if all goes as planned with Canada’s promise of more energy to the world, it’s much too small on its own to move the needle when it comes to commodity prices or global supplies.
WATCH | Government looking to shore up short-term supply of crude oil and natural gas:
Minister says government looking to shore up short-term supply of crude oil and natural gas as U.S. bans Russian imports
17 days ago
Duration 5:54
Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson joins Power & Politics to discuss the U.S. ban on Russian imports of oil and gas. 5:54
VANCOUVER – Jesse Marsch issued Canada’s men’s soccer squad a challenge — get physical.
The edict came after the Canadians surprised many at this summer’s Copa America tournament, making it through to the semifinals. As his players departed for their professional clubs, the head coach wanted them thinking about continued growth.
“I challenged them to be more physically present in the matches that they played in,” Marsch said. “I’ve tried to encourage all the players to sprint more, to win more duels, to win more balls, to be more dynamic in matches.”
When Canada reconvened for a pair of friendlies last week, the coach saw some players had already heeded his call, including Vancouver Whitecaps product Ali Ahmed.
The 23-year-old midfielder started in both Canada’s 2-1 victory over the United States on Saturday and Tuesday’s 0-0 draw against Mexico.
“I’m really happy for him,” Marsch said. “I think he’s still young and still has a lot of room and potential to continue to grow.”
Playing under Marsch — who took over as head coach in May — has been a boon for the young athlete, currently in his second full season with Major League Soccer’s Whitecaps.
“Jesse has a very clear way of playing,” Ahmed said. “And I think the way we’ve been training and the way we’ve been growing as a group, it’s been helpful for me.”
The reward of getting minutes for a national team can spur a player’s growth, including Ahmed, said Whitecaps head coach Vanni Sartini.
“Of course that fuels him inside to say ‘Hey, I want to be a better player. I want to get to that stage,'” said Sartini.
Vancouver had six players — including Ahmed — away on international duty during its 0-0 draw against Dallas FC on Saturday. The absences are a good problem to have, Sartini said.
“Because we have players that are close to the national team, we have a lot of players that development is faster, better, bigger than it would have been if they hadn’t been called,” he said.
Born in Toronto, Ahmed came up through the Whitecaps’ academy system and played for Vancouver’s MLS Next Pro side before cementing his spot on the first team in 2023. He put up two goals and two assists across 22 regular-season games, and added another goal and another helper in 19 appearances this year.
Taking the next step will require the five-foot-11, 154-pound Ahmed to push himself physically, Marsch said.
“Tactically, he’s technically gifted,” the coach said. “I’ve told him he’s got to get in the gym more.
“There’s a lot of these little things where too many guys, they still look like kids and we need to help them look like men and play like men. And that’s what the high standards of the game are about.”
Marsch has quickly adjusted to recalibrating standards in his short time with Team Canada. Since taking over the squad in May, the coach said he’s learned the players are smarter and more capable than he originally thought, which forces the coach to constantly recalibrate his standards.
“That’s my job right now, to keep raising the level of the demands,” he said.
The way 40th-ranked Canada is viewed on the international stage is evolving, too.
“I think we’re changing the perception on the way we’re playing now,” he said. “I think beating the U.S. — it would have been nice to beat Mexico as well — the way we did, the way that we performed at Copa, I think teams are starting to look at us differently.
“Right now, I think we’re focused on ourselves. We’re definitely trying to be the best in CONCACAF and we have higher goals as well.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
An investigator gave the World Anti-Doping Agency a pass on its handling of the inflammatory case involving Chinese swimmers, but not without hammering away at the “curious” nature of WADA’s “silence” after examining Chinese actions that did not follow rules designed to safeguard global sports.
WADA on Thursday released the full decision from Eric Cottier, the Swiss investigator it appointed to analyze its handling of the case involving the 23 Chinese swimmers who remained eligible despite testing positive for performance enhancers in 2021.
In echoing wording from an interim report issued earlier this summer, Cottier said it was “reasonable” that WADA chose not to appeal the Chinese anti-doping agency’s explanation that the positives came from contamination.
“Taking into consideration the particularities of the case, (WADA) appears … to have acted in accordance with the rules it has itself laid out for anti-doping organizations,” Cottier wrote.
But peppered throughout his granular, 56-page analysis of the case was evidence and reminders of how WADA disregarded some of China’s violations of anti-doping protocols. Cottier concluded this happened more for the sake of expediency than to show favoritism toward the Chinese.
“In retrospect at least, the Agency’s silence is curious, in the face of a procedure that does not respect the fundamental rules, and its lack of reaction is surprising,” Cottier wrote of WADA’s lack of fealty to the world anti-doping code.
Travis Tygart, the CEO of the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency and one of WADA’s fiercest critics, latched onto this dynamic, saying Cottier’s information “clearly shows that China did not follow the rules, and that WADA management did nothing about it.”
One of the chief complaints over the handling of this case was that neither WADA nor the Chinese gave any public notice upon learning of the positive tests for the banned heart medication Temozolomide, known as TMZ.
The athletes also were largely kept in the dark and the burden to prove their innocence was taken up by Chinese authorities, not the athletes themselves, which runs counter to what the rulebook demands.
Despite the criticisms, WADA generally welcomed the report.
“Above all, (Cottier) reiterated that WADA showed no bias towards China and that its decision not to appeal the cases was reasonable based on the evidence,” WADA director general Olivier Niggli said. “There are however certainly lessons to be learned by WADA and others from this situation.”
Tygart said “this report validates our concerns and only raises new questions that must be answered.”
Cottier expanded on doubts WADA’s own chief scientist, Olivier Rabin, had expressed over the Chinese contamination theory — snippets of which were introduced in the interim report. Rabin was wary of the idea that “a few micrograms” of TMZ found in the kitchen at the hotel where the swimmers stayed could be enough to cause the group contamination.
“Since he was not in a position to exclude the scenario of contamination with solid evidence, he saw no other solution than to accept it, even if he continued to have doubts about the reality of contamination as described by the Chinese authorities,” Cottier wrote.
Though recommendations for changes had been expected in the report, Cottier made none, instead referring to several comments he’d made earlier in the report.
Key among them were his misgivings that a case this big was largely handled in private — a breach of custom, if not the rules themselves — both while China was investigating and after the file had been forwarded to WADA. Not until the New York Times and German broadcaster ARD reported on the positives were any details revealed.
“At the very least, the extraordinary nature of the case (23 swimmers, including top-class athletes, 28 positive tests out of 60 for a banned substance of therapeutic origin, etc.), could have led to coordinated and concerted reflection within the Agency, culminating in a formal and clearly expressed decision to take no action,” the report said.
WADA’s executive committee established a working group to address two more of Cottier’s criticisms — the first involving what he said was essentially WADA’s sloppy recordkeeping and lack of formal protocol, especially in cases this complex; and the second a need to better flesh out rules for complex cases involving group contamination.
MANCHESTER, United Kingdom – Canada’s top male tennis players have defeated Finland 3-0 in the group stage of the Davis Cup Final.
Denis Shapovalov of Richmond Hill, Ont., beat Eero Vasa 7-6 (2), 6-2 in Tuesday’s first singles match. Montreal’s Felix Auger-Aliassime then dispatched Otto Virtanen 6-2, 6-3 in the second singles match.
With the tie already won thanks to the two singles victories, Shapovalov and Auger-Aliassime teamed up to best Virtanen and Harri Heliovaara 6-2, 7-5 in doubles play.
There was an element of revenge after Canada lost to Finland in last year’s quarterfinals.
“Everybody’s in good spirits, so it’s very good,” Auger-Aliassime said. “Any motivation is good, but I think it’s a different year, a different time, and (last year’s loss) was behind us. This year we have a full team and everybody’s playing better than last year. Everybody’s improved.”
It’s the second consecutive group-stage tie Canada has won after beating Argentina 2-1 on Tuesday. Canada, the lone seeded team in Group D, will face host Great Britain on Sunday.
Four groups of teams are playing in four cities this week to qualify for the eight-team Finals in Malaga, Spain, in November. The top two countries in each four-team group advance.
Since Canada’s undefeated after two opponents in the group stage, it is set to advance to the Davis Cup Finals.
“Couldn’t ask for more today, super proud of the team,” said captain Frank Dancevic. “Great team spirit, amazing bench team spirit, and fans pushing us through the day.”
It is Canada’s fifth consecutive appearance in the Davis Cup Finals, having won its only title in 2022. The Canadians defeated South Korea 3-1 in February’s Davis Cup qualifiers in Montreal to reach the group stage of the finals.
— With files from The Associated Press.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
