Thaindian News

Toronto, May 12 (IANS) In an energy-starved world where India and China are on the prowl globally for resources to keep up their high growth rates, Canada can be their lifeline as it is set to become an energy superpower, according to a top corporate honcho.

“In 2021, Canada will be an energy superpower. We are the world’s largest producer of energy in all forms when measured per capita. We have the oil, natural gas, hydro power and uranium. But mere ownership of resources does not make us a superpower… we are still missing one vital component: a diversified market,” said Jim Prentice, who quit as Canada’s industry minister last year to join the corporate world, Wednesday.

Canada has the world’s second largest reserves of oil after Saudi Arabia, with oilsands accounting for half of its oil output. It is also the world leader in CNG and fuel gases. By 2025, the country plans to raise its oil sands production from about 1.3 million barrels to nearly 3.3 million barrels per day.

Without naming India and China, the former minister, who is now vice chairman of the top Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, said Canada need to look to the Asia-Pacific region to become a global energy superpower.

With the US alone consuming 99 percent Canadian oil exports, he said, “Today, virtually all our energy exports are destined for the United States. We have one customer… and that makes us a price-taker rather than a price-maker,” he said.

He said the marketplace is changing for Canadian energy given a slow decline in US demand for imported energy and rising demand in developing countries.

“We need to have diversified markets to ensure the best marginal price and to reduce our market risk. And the road to diversified markets runs through our west coast and beyond to the countries of Asia-Pacific,” the politician-turned-corporate honcho told an audience at the Calgary Chamber of Commerce.