(Photo Supplied: Enbridge Norman Wells Pipeline. Enbridge / WEB)
A former senior executive with CNOOC Ltd. told the Financial Post Tuesday that a lack of export infrastructure like pipelines has lowered Canada’s credibility as an investment destination.
Weidong Chen, the former chief researcher at CNOOC now holds an advisory position with the company out of Beijing.
““Canada is good on the legal, commercial, political stability (levels) and also technology,” Chen said on the sidelines of the Canada-China Forum. “But it’s slow, the infrastructure go slow,” he was talking about Canada’s inability to get pipelines approved and improve market access for oil producers.
According to the article Chinese energy companies invested $35 billion in Canadian energy when oil prices were sky-high.
“The federal government (in Canada) is a weak government, not like China in comparison,” he told the Financial Post. “Most resources are located only in Alberta … and Alberta is an inland state, they can only transport to the U.S. You go to Pacific, you have to negotiate with B.C. and B.C. has a lot of First Nations. I participated in three (annual LNG) conferences. They continuously talk about First Nations issues. I didn’t see any progress.”
Hearings continue in Burnaby, B.C. this week into the proposed Trans Mountain pipeline expansion that would triple the current capacity to 890,000 barrels per day.
The National Energy Board is expected to rule on the project that would potentially increase western Canadian crude oil revenues by $73.5 billion over the first 20 years of operation this spring.
