Cenovus CEO said the U.S. remains dependent on Canadian oil despite Trump’s comments.
Although President Donald Trump's comments are that the U.S. president said at a global energy conference in Calgary on Tuesday that the U.S. relies on Canadian oil imports.
Trump has threatened to impose increasing tariffs on Canadian oil, of which nearly 4 million barrels per day are exported to the United States. Canada is the world's fourth largest oil producer and the fifth largest natural gas producer.
Trump has previously said that the United States does not need to import goods from Canada, including oil and gas.
Prime Minister Mark Carney, who won the minority government in April, won the wave of anti-Trump voter sentiment, said the country's old relationship with the United States was over based on steady growth in economic integration.
Chairs of the oil sands company Cenovus and the Canadian Petroleum producer group said trade tensions between the two countries stressed the need for Canada to diversify its exports.
But demand has not stood out from the inseparable links between the two countries' energy systems.
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“What hasn’t changed is energy economics and energy physics,” Mackenzie said. “The reality is that we are firmly connected to the American system.”
Canada relies on U.S. refineries to buy the vast majority of its exports, while inland U.S. refineries in the Midwest are configured to handle crude oil grades produced in Canada.
Mackenzie said Canada has a chance to increase oil production in the coming decades, adding that the country's new government needs to recognize Canada's shared dependence with the United States and seek to improve that relationship.
“We need to make sure we don’t act internally when threatened and we act intelligently in the long term,” he said.
As part of its response to the U.S. tariff threat, Carney has pledged to identify fast track projects designed to help Canada become the national interests of what he calls traditional and clean energy superpowers.
Mackenzie said the oil and gas sector does not want the federal government to pick winners and losers by deciding which projects to go quickly.
He said the industry wants to see extensive regulatory reforms that will remove barriers to investing in oil and gas projects.
