There are but two options when reacting to the unwelcome clanging of an early morning wakeup alarm: 1. Get up out of bed and go to work, or 2. hit the snooze button, retreat, and hide under the pillow.
That clang came through loud and clear last week for consumers, politicians and the heart and soul of this country’s economy — the much maligned oil and gas industry.
With the ransom cheque now having cleared the bank, those evil gasoline consumers can now breathe a sigh of relief, jump in their fossil fuelers and spend some of their Biden Bucks and leave this pandemic behind in the dust.
Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for any resolution to the Line 5 mess.
Out of sheer frustration I will not spend more “dwell time” in this report, hamster wheeling on the issues that are obvious to all but our Canadian team of negotiators who don’t have a leg to stand on.
What they don’t seem to understand is that Michigan’s governor Gretchen Whitmer isn’t looking for a solution. She is looking for a trophy for her re-election mantlepiece.
I don’t believe I am alone in my teeth grinding over our inability to move Canadian crude oil along Canadian pipelines on Canadian soil to Canadians.
In fact, it seems we look for any excuse not to!
We Canadians own the TransMountain, which in theory will twin an existing line and provide an export release valve for Alberta crude.
Not so fast as the latest news is that construction has been halted until mid-August so as not to disturb the nesting of a hummingbird. No mess’n with nest’n!
Moving over to the east coast, maybe Irving Oil is running out of patience as well.
Do they know something our politicians don’t know?
Wouldn’t be the first time.
Does Irving believe that Line 5 will be history?
Maybe.
After all, they have applied for approval to use a non-Canadian registered Ultra Large Crude Carrier (ULCC) to deliver 325,000 to 550,000 barrels of Canadian crude from the U.S. Gulf coast for delivery to Irving’s Saint John deep water marine terminal between June 1 and June 30, 2021.
Is this a trial run should Line 5 be closed off?
Maybe.
Because the daily volume through Line 5 is 540,000 bpd, which matches the upper limit of next month’s delivery into Saint John.
Could this be the new normal?
Maybe.
The only problem is, any shipment by non-Canadian tankers from the Gulf to any Canadian port will require federal approval.
And that folks is Ottawa.
And that folks is where the solution goes into dissolution.
Pass me the pillow!
– Roger McKnight – B.Sc., Senior Petroleum Analyst
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