U.S. and Canada Energy Fate Lies in Each Other’s Hands

Canada’s oil industry is like Bizarro Superman.

For those of you who aren’t comic book nerds or are not die-hard fans of Seinfeld, Bizarro Superman is the antithesis of Superman. His actions were always the exact opposite of what we would expect from Superman. In the world of energy, Canada is much like Bizarro Superman because of how different its oil industry is to that of the United States. Let’s take a look at this bizarre scenario and what it means for some energy companies.

The North American odd couple

Canada has consistently been a net exporter of oil since 1981. Yet despite exporting more than 3 million barrels per day to the U.S., provinces east of Ontario import more than 60% of their oil needs. There are two primary reasons this happens: (1) Canada doesn’t have adequate infrastructure to economically deliver oil from the Western shale plays to the Eastern refineries, and (2) The majority of Eastern refineries are built to handle lighter, sweeter crudes that came from foreign sources.

via U.S. and Canada Energy Fate Lies in Each Other’s Hands.