China's Nexen takeover may fuel new pipeline projects in B.C., expert says

by Carlito Pablo on December 19th, 2012 at 4:01 PM

1 of 1 2 of 1

An expert on international trade is suggesting that China’s acquisition of Alberta tar-sands producer Nexen Inc. will boost the laying of new pipelines in B.C.

Keith Head, a professor at UBC’s Sauder School of Business, said it may not matter to Nexen acquirer China National Offshore Oil Corporation whether it’s Enbridge’s Northern Gateway pipeline to Kitimat or a twinned Kinder Morgan pipeline to Burnaby that delivers oil to tankers destined for Asia.

“I don’t think they’re wed to any particular pipeline,” Head told the Straight in a phone interview. “But my strong presumption is they are thinking that there’s going to be a way to get that oil to China. And the only feasible way is pipelines.”

According to the UBC academic, there’s already a “strong business proposition” for the export of oil to Asia. At present, much western Canadian oil goes to Cushing, Oklahoma, where it’s priced as Western Texas Intermediate. That oil goes for about $20 per barrel less than London’s Brent Crude price, the global standard.

“Obviously, I think the Chinese [government], through CNOOC, is very interested in having some of the oil flow towards it,” Head explained. “I don’t think CNOOC is buying Nexen because it’s interested in exporting oil to Cushing.”

A report released in June by the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers notes that Canadian oil gets “discounted prices” in Oklahoma.

“New additional capacity to the west coast is key in order to link western Canadian crude oil production to the world market,” according to Crude Oil: Forecast, Markets & Pipelines. “Both Kinder Morgan and Enbridge have pipeline projects to increase access to the west coast.”

Although getting crude from Canada’s tar sands to Asian markets makes good business sense, Head warned that it’ll be disastrous for the environment. “The higher the price you can get, the more oil you’ll ultimately end up wanting to extract, because you’re willing to go further and further up the cost curve,” he said. “And that’s a bad thing from the point of view of global warming.”

According to Nexen’s website, the company “has an interest in more than 300,000 acres in the Athabasca region, with an estimated three to six billion barrels of contingent recoverable oil sands resource.” Nexen did not respond to a Straight request for an interview before deadline.

Comments

3 Comments

Camal

Dec 19, 2012 at 6:00pm

After so many years of selling off BC to foriegn powers and filling BC with foreign workers (legit and illegal) there will be a payback for the LIBERALS.The bureaucrats have put Canada is up for sale to whoever wants it.More than two-thirds of Canada is owned by foreign entities, sending a majority of the industry's profits out of the country right now.This so called free enterprise game will cost us all while the politicians get rich from the secret deals they deny.the fact that the actual land and logging rights are being sold to Chinese companys. They can do whatever they want and hire whoever they want. I guarantee you they are not in business to benefit Canadians. Canada is up for sale to whoever wants it.This is just like what we do with our heavy oil we ship it unrefined to either the US or China where they refine it and make the real money. We have been giving our raw materials away forever whens it going to stop.Way to go LIBERALS, we send them good solid logs and they send us back computer desks, coffee tables ,dressers and chairs made of sawdust and glue.Temporary Foreign Worker program is increasingly little more than a government-sanctioned way for big business to by-pass Canadian workers and substitute with cheap foreign labour All they have to do is say the employees require "specialized knowledge".IT depresses wages for Canadians and creates a cheap pool of easily exploited and disposable labor.he federal government needs to revoke the company's Work Permit as the Labor Market Opinion (LMO) should never have been granted by HRSDC in the first place.I have a feeling our language law in Quebec would prevent this somewhat poor though out idea to scam passive, gullible , lazy dumb Canadians.our politicians are happy to have us race to the bottom of the economic ladder in order to ensure their political backers can get increased profits.Six out of ten Canadian think that immigrants take jobs away from those born in this country. So why is there still demand for foreign labor despite so many Canadians looking for work? because they work for 1/4 the wages ,no benefits is increasing corporate and shareholder profits, corporation do not care about workers only profits ,next you will see child labor allowed like medieval england in the 1600 century.

Kim Goldberg

Dec 19, 2012 at 6:34pm

Many of us here in BC have been working on the Oil-Free Coast campaign, not just because Alberta tar sands are a terrible idea for the entire planet but because bitumen-loaded supertankers plying coastal waters will be disastrous for the pristine Great Bear Rainforest as well as more populous stretches of BC's coastline. The centrepiece of the Oil-Free Coast campaign is the fabulous travelling art show “Art for an Oil-Free Coast” featuring the work of 50 Canadian artists, both Native and non-Native. The artists have donated their work to raise funds for the campaign through an online auction. Their work is also beautifully presented in an art book called “Canada’s Raincoast at Risk”. The book sells for $45 (Canadian). But the eBook version (with complete contents of print book plus video) is available for FREE download to your iPad from the Apple iTunes store: https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/canadas-raincoast-at-risk/id580416644?ls=1 It's really worth a look! (This message is not spam or some bogus virus thing. I am one of nine poets also included in the book.)