China looking for Oil in Canada?

[Wisc Badger]

Is it bad for the United States overall that the emerging economic giant on the world stage China is looking to quench it's thirst for oil all over the world?

In recent weeks the Chinese have struck oil deals with Iran, Peru and today's NYT reports they may be looking to our northern neighbors Canada for oil, perhaps at the expense of the United States.

Is this such a bad thing?

More competition for energy may cause this nation to rethink our energy policy and come up with a more manageable and better one.

Certainly it should cause the energy debate to have a higher priority than it does now. China has increased it's need for oil by over 40% in this year alone, and it seems now where near satisfied.

The down side is that this could lead us into a conflict for resources and historically wars have been know to occur over these kind of circumstances.

Thoughts or comments?

[KurtNYC]

1. NY Times story

From today's (12/23) NY Times:

Canada, the largest source of imported oil for the United States, has historically sent almost all its exports of oil south by pipeline to help quench America's thirst for energy. But that arrangement may be about to change as China, which has surpassed Japan as the second-largest market for oil, flexes its muscle in attempts to secure oil, even in places like the cold boreal forests of northern Alberta, where the oil has to be sucked out of the sticky, sandy soil.

"The China outlet would change our dynamic," said Murray Smith, a former Alberta energy minister who was appointed this month to be the province's representative in Washington, a new position. Mr. Smith said he estimated that Canada could eventually export as many as one million barrels a day to China out of potential exports of more than three million barrels a day.

"Our main link would still be with the U.S. but this would give us multiple markets and competition for a prized resource," Mr. Smith said. Delegations of senior executives from China's largest oil companies have been making frequent appearances in recent weeks here in Calgary, Canada's bustling energy capital, for talks on ventures that would send oil extracted from the oil sands in the northern reaches of the energy-rich province of Alberta to new ports in western Canada and onward by tanker to China.

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/23/business/worldbusiness/23canada.html?position=&ei=5094&en=428b0d964982d1eb&hp=&ex=1103864400&adxnnl=1&partner=homepage&pagewanted=print&adxnnlx=1103814066-mfBo0aRAnrqR/f0/UCWeTg

[oneighty]

2. Competition?

Washington do not want to be hearing that word.

Iraq oil will ease the pain.

180

[AlCzervik]

3. They also just made a deal with Hugo Chavez

Look for higher prices soon on steel and copper and concrete. As we ship our jobs to them they are starting to boom. Look for America to become a 3rd world country in the next 50 years.

[brainshrub]

4. I never liked those Canadians anyways.

They are to polite. They are probably harboring terrorists and WMDs.

I hear that they mooch of our awesome health-care system and they let their people smoke pot.

Every time Jesus seeing a gay Canadian, he cries.

Let's invade them!