Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson says it’s “unlikely, very unlikely” that the United States can run without Canadian energy, a claim Alberta Premier Danielle Smith agrees with.
Wilkinson’s remarks on Wednesday coincided with new federal data confirming crude oil exports hit record volumes last year, per Blacklock’s Reporter.
“This idea of they’re going to just ‘drill, baby, drill’ and somehow they’re going to actually have enormous amounts of oil and gas incremental to what they are producing right now in the United States and somehow that is going to make them independent of Canada I think is unlikely, very unlikely,” said Wilkinson.
His remarks to Toronto’s Economic Club of Canada followed the US imposition of 10% tariffs on Canadian oil, gas and hydroelectricity.
“President Trump can say the United States doesn’t need Canada’s energy resources but that’s actually not true,” said Wilkinson.
“The Americans [daily] produce 13 and-a-half million barrels of light sweet crude. They consume over 16 million barrels. There is already a gap there.”
“Refineries in the Midwest and in the Gulf Coast are set up for heavy crude. Exxon just went through a process of refitting one of their refineries to use sweet crude. It was a four-year project. It cost $4 billion.”
“The idea that somehow the United States is going to all of a sudden decide it is not going to have heavy crude flowing to those refineries is extremely unlikely, and even if they made that decision, which would be a bit of a bizarre decision because then they would actually have to start to import more light crude from somewhere else, even if they made that decision it’s probably tens of billions of dollars in investment and it’s probably four to eight years to actually get that done.”
The minister’s remarks coincided with a report by the Canada Energy Regulator, formerly the National Energy Board, that Canadian oil exports hit a record 4.2 million barrels daily last year.
“Total exports of Canadian crude oil reached record highs in 2024,” said a Market Snapshot report, stating 60% of crude oil imported by America is from Canadian sources, by official estimate.
Smith on Wednesday agreed the United States would remain reliant on Canadian energy for years to come.
“Whether the US president wishes to admit it or not, the United States not only needs our oil and gas today, they are also going to need it more and more with each passing year once they notice their declining domestic reserves and production are wholly insufficient to keep up with the energy demands of US consumers,” she said.
“Canada has a secret weapon in this conflict with the United States, a trump card, so to speak.”
“It is located directly under our feet. It is called Alberta energy. You see, Alberta happens to have one of the largest deposits of oil and natural gas on the planet. It is significantly larger and far more accessible than the quickly-declining oil and gas reserves located in the United States.”
Alberta has traditionally been home to one of the nation’s largest populations of expatriate Americans.
“As independent as we are, Albertans are strong and loyal Canadians,” Smith told reporters.
Tariffs on Canadian energy were a clear attack, she said.
“This economic attack on our country combined with Mr. Trump’s continued talk of using economic force to facilitate the annexation of our country has broken trust between our two nations in a profound way. It is a betrayal of a deep and abiding friendship.”