CALGARY, Alberta, March 14, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Canada can achieve significant domestic and global benefits if we resolve current market access challenges, according to a new report from the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP), Leveraging Opportunities: Diversifying Canada’s Oil and Natural Gas Markets.
Canada has an abundance of natural resources, but a lack of pipelines and insufficient infrastructure are crippling our ability to compete for global market share.
Global markets for liquefied natural gas (LNG) are expected to expand substantially by the mid-2020s, yet Canada is not moving quickly enough to capitalize on this growing demand. In addition, failure to reach these high-growth markets means we are missing an opportunity to help reduce net global greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs). Coal-fired electricity generation in China, India, Southeast Asia, and Europe, could be displaced using Canadian LNG, which has lower life-cycle emissions than LNG from other countries.
Likewise, Canada is missing out on the opportunity to export responsibly produced oil to those same emerging global markets in China and India because there is not enough pipeline capacity nor access to tide water.
CAPP has identified the barriers preventing Canada from realizing these opportunities. The path forward must include a clear government commitment to resource development, a competitive fiscal environment, and an efficient regulatory process to enable new projects to be approved and constructed in a timely manner. CAPP recommends the Government of Canada make meaningful and substantial changes to Bill C-69 which, as it stands now, will only compound the problems of our already protracted regulatory process. CAPP also calls for the government to withdraw Bill C-48 which proposes a tanker moratorium on a significant portion of Canada’s West Coast.
CAPP’s full report, Leveraging Opportunities: Diversifying Canada’s Oil and Natural Gas Markets, can be found here.
The Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers quotes: Tim McMillan, President and CEO
- “Before they will invest in Canada, global investors need to see that the Canadian federal and provincial governments are firmly committed to resource development.”
- “Global energy demand is growing; however, without new pipelines, Canada’s oil and natural gas industry can’t compete for a share of the global market. Instead, growing demand will be filled by other countries like Iraq, Libya, and the United States.”
- “Canada is missing an opportunity to have our energy play a key role in reducing global greenhouse gas emissions by displacing energy from other countries who don’t have our high environmental standards.”
- “The federal government must fix Bill C-69 to ensure there is a workable approvals process for future projects and pipelines in Canada. In its current form, the Bill only aggravates an already flawed process.”
- “Bill C-48 is a barrier to improving market access, and interferes with the ability of many Indigenous communities to benefit from resource development on their traditional lands.”
Supporting Information:
- In the International Energy Agency’s, World Energy Outlook 2018 (New Policies Scenario), total global energy demand is projected to increase 27 per cent over 2017 levels by 2040.
- Together, oil and natural gas will account for 53 per cent of the world’s total energy demand by 2040.
- Capital investment in Canada’s oil and natural gas sector dropped to about $41 billion in 2018, down from $81 billion in 2014. It is expected to drop another 10 per cent in 2019.
- Canada’s oil and natural gas sector accounted for 5.34 per cent of real Canadian GDP in 2017.
The Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP) represents companies, large and small, that explore for, develop and produce natural gas and oil throughout Canada. CAPP’s member companies produce about 80 per cent of Canada’s natural gas and oil. CAPP's associate members provide a wide range of services that support the upstream oil and natural gas industry. Together CAPP's members and associate members are an important part of a national industry with revenues from oil and natural gas production of about $110 billion a year. CAPP’s mission, on behalf of the Canadian upstream oil and natural gas industry, is to advocate for and enable economic competitiveness and safe, environmentally and socially responsible performance.
For additional information:
Tracy Larsson
Advisor, Media and Issues
(P): 403-776-1415
(E): tracy.larsson@capp.ca