CALGARY — With Canadian oil companies hoping to boost oil sales to Asia in the coming years and diversify away from the United States, Middle Eastern and Asian investors have expressed early-stage interest in a potential new crude pipeline in Canada.On Monday, Premier Danielle Smith told an audience at the CERAWeek by S&P Global Energy Conference that foreign investors could become minority owners if such a project were to get the green light.“Probably not a majority stake, but at least a substantial stake — maybe 15 or 30%,” Smith said.“Whether it’s Asian company partners, Middle Eastern partners, Canadian companies, or American companies, I would expect that there would be a large amount of interest from foreign stakeholders.”She cited LNG Canada — a consortium of international firms from China, Europe, Japan, Malaysia, and South Korea — as an example of successful foreign investment in Canadian energy infrastructure.According to Reuters, Smith said Alberta has been talking to Middle Eastern sovereign wealth funds as well as Asian investors.Alberta has been exploring the feasibility of a new one-million-barrel-per-day oil pipeline to BC’s northwest coast — with five potential port locations being explored — to increase exports to the Asian market..Canada’s oil commitment given reality check as maintenance and pipelines limit output.However, no private proponent has committed to building the new pipeline.Smith told reporters that energy investors worldwide are increasingly interested in doing business with Alberta — the world’s fourth-largest oil producer — as it is seen as a safe haven and geopolitically stable amid the US-Israel-Iran conflict.The current turmoil in the Middle East has bolstered global demand for Canadian oil and gas, and last week Canada agreed to support the International Energy Agency’s (IEA) plan to supply 400 million additional barrels of oil to boost global supply by pledging to contribute 23.6 million barrels.Prime Minister Mark Carney has vowed to address issues that have caused previous efforts to build new pipeline infrastructure to be hindered, such as regulatory red tape and political opposition, by introducing a more streamlined approval process aimed at attracting private investors, but Smith has said regulatory clarity alone will not be enough, citing ongoing negotiations over the industrial carbon tax.Smith warned that Canada’s oil industry cannot increase production if the new system is too stringent, putting Canadian oil companies at a competitive disadvantage to their US competitors.The premier confirmed her government will be submitting a formal pipeline proposal to the Liberal government in June and said that, if the project were approved for fast-tracking, it would increase the likelihood of a private sector proponent coming forward.
