Canada, the world’s fourth-largest oil producer, announced on Thursday an increase of about 5% in its oil exports to meet “requests for help” from its “allies, struggling with shortages” due to the conflict in Ukraine .
In 2022, “Canadian industry has the capacity to gradually increase its oil and gas exports by approximately 300,000 barrels per day (200,000 barrels of oil and 100,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day of natural gas) , to replace Russian oil and gas,” Jonathan Wilkinson, Canadian Minister of Natural Resources, said in a statement.
The latter is in Paris, where he is taking part in the ministerial meeting of the International Energy Agency (IEA) to discuss with his international counterparts global energy security and the transition to a low-carbon economy.
“Our allies in Europe tell us they need our help to wean themselves off Russian oil and gas now, while accelerating the continental energy transition. Canada is particularly well placed to help on these two issues,” said the Canadian minister.
The European Union is considering an embargo on Russian oil.
Wilkinson said Canada is “very open to discussion” about what else it can do to help, including new natural gas terminals on the east coast to export Canadian liquefied natural gas to the United States. ‘Europe.
But he added that these investments are highly dependent on understanding how long it would take to operate them and on being able to ensure that any new gas infrastructure is “ultra-low emissions” so that it does not increase the Canada’s carbon footprint along the way.
Energetic transition
Canada also announced $8 million for the IEA’s Clean Energy Transition Program, which aims to help emerging economies accelerate their energy transition while meeting their energy needs. energy.
In Canada, carbon emissions from the oil and gas sector have increased by 20% since 2005 and represent 26% of total emissions.
Last year, the Trudeau government announced that it wanted to reduce GHGs by 40 to 45% by 2030 compared to 2005 levels, without detailing how it intended to reach this target, which is lower than that of the European Union and the United States.
Oil prices rose above the $120 a barrel threshold on Wednesday, boosted by the prospect of new sanctions against Russia, falling US stocks and damage to a Russian oil terminal.
With The Canadian Press