After U.S. Oil Snub, Canada Now Focused on China

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper is preparing for a crucial state visit this week to China where, among other things, he is expected to discuss selling Canadian oil products to the Asian giant. Harper is anxious to construct a Pacific oil pipeline after President Barack Obama rejected the building of a route from Alberta to Texas by TransCanada’s Keystone XL, largely on environmental and safety concerns.

A spokesman for Harper told the Associated Press that it is "absolutely in Canada's interests" to build a new pipeline to transport oil to China. CBC reported that 99 percent of Canadian crude oil is currently shipped to the United States -- Harper clearly wants to diversify his country’s customer base for energy products. BBC reported that Chinese state-owned companies have already invested in excess of $16-billion in Canadian energy projects, including oil-sands, over the past two years.

The Canadian mission, which will arrive in Beijing on Tuesday, is the largest of its kind since 1998. Guests include top executives from Shell Canada, Enbridge, and Canadian Oil Sands as well as uranium producer Cameco Corp and mining firm Teck Resources Ltd. Harper denied the suggestion he had softened his tone on human rights over the years in the interest of boosting trade.

Canada - the largest supplier of energy to the United States - was profoundly disappointed by Washington's decision to veto TransCanada Corp's Keystone project. The United States - by far Canada's largest trading partner - is unlikely to look again at the project until next year.

At 170 billion barrels, Canada's oil sands are the third-largest crude deposit in the world, and Canadian exports to bigger markets will be a focal point of Harper's meetings in China, where he will be accompanied by five cabinet ministers and the heads of major corporations seeking business. China has already made clear it would like to import Canadian oil to help power its rapidly expanding economy.