As reported by Bloomberg, Canada’s oil production could increase by 900,000 barrels a day to make up for supply losses from Russia’s war in Ukraine.
This is according to the Jason Kenny, premier of the province of Alberta.
Kenney gave the estimate in testimony before a U.S. Senate committee on Tuesday. The number is roughly triple the estimate delivered weeks ago by Canadian Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson.
Kenny said that about 300,000 barrels a day of unused capacity exists in the North American pipeline system, which should be filled this year through higher output.
Additionally, and "if midstream companies get serious about it, and if regulators approve it," a further 400,000 barrels could be added through pipeline reversals and technical improvements.
Another 200,000 barrels of crude oil could be shipped by rail.
That said, boosting Canada’s oil output by that amount would not happen quickly and would no doubt result in the creation of additional pipeline jobs.
In the first two months of the year, Canadian exports were approx. 3.9 million barrels a day of crude oil to the U.S. according to data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration. This represents the bulk of the country’s production.
"Let’s be visionary about this." said Kenny referering to the completion of the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion project to British Columbia.
"Let’s have a North American energy alliance, and let’s get another major pipeline done because we’ve got the third-largest reserves on Earth up in Alberta," he said.