America’s reluctance to participate in the development of Canada’s resource rich oil sands has proven to be a windfall for the Chinese government, a fact that was hammered home on Monday when China’s state-owned oil company made a $15 billion offer to buy Nexen, a significant Canadian oil-sands field operator.
According to the editorial page of The Wall Street Journal, the Chinese offer was a direct outcome of the administration’s rejection of the $7 billion Keystone XL pipeline, which “was a direct snub to Canada, which provides nearly 30% of U.S. imports.”
In response to America’s decision not pursue development of the pipeline, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper said that Canada needs to diversify its energy markets, perhaps by building a pipeline from Alberta to the West Coast to export to Asia.
The lesson for America … is that Canada’s oil sands will be developed, whether their green financiers like it or not.
Read more HERE.