Lack of US concern shows bleak pipeline possibilities: expert
Posted June 22, 2015 11:25 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
The railways can only take so much, so what would happen if not a single new pipeline was built in the next 15 years to move oil through western Canada?
According to energy research firm Wood MacKenzie, western Canadian oil producers are set up to lose $100-billion in a worst case scenario.
Afolabi Ogunnaike, a senior analyst tells 660News, it seems pipeline projects like the Northern Gateway to the BC coast and Keystone XL to the Gulf of Mexico are starting to fade out of public concern.
“People were polled on Keystone XL. The average American didn’t really know about Keystone XL and it just shows the importance on the oil and gas industry, but the polls suggest that that doesn’t really rise to the level of prominence amongst amongst voters,” Ogunnaike said.
“With the oil and gas industry and environmentalists, I think it’s not a huge big button issue right now. I think the American public is a bit more focused on some other key domestic and forging policy issues.”
Experts predict production of oil in North America to increasing substantially in the next decade, but without the cheaper, faster pipelines, an economy dependent on the oil sector would have some challenges.
Ogunnaike said not building, or even delaying pipelines would put a lot more pressure on Canada’s already tight railway capacity as production increases.
