Alberta Premier Danielle Smith pitched Canadian oil and gas as “the answer” to energy security concerns and the United States administration’s “energy dominance” ambitions, while she called for new cross-border pipelines at a major energy conference in Houston Tuesday. “You’ve probably heard we want to build a million barrel a day pipeline to the West Coast. But there are also proponents who would like to build about two and a half million barrels per day of additional egress to the United States,” Smith said at the CERAWeek conference, noting that despite expanding U.S. production, the country remains a net importer of crude oil. “Alberta is the answer. I hope you can see we really are.” Smith noted that while the U.S. has increased oil production, it still consumes far more than it produces. She pitched Canada as the most logical supplier to fill the gap, particularly given the countries’ deeply integrated pipeline networks. She also reaffirmed her government’s goal to nearly double oil production to roughly eight million barrels per day by 2035. While she lamented the cancellation of previous export pipeline projects, including Keystone XL , Energy East and Northern Gateway , Smith said Canada’s energy exports are not an immediate solution to the current global crisis sparked by the U.S.-Israel attack on Iran. However, Alberta’s premier suggested that recent crises had pushed Canadian governments to rethink energy policy, shifting from a prioritization of carbon emissions to an increased focus on affordability, security and economic development. “The only regret I have is that we didn’t do this 10 years ago,” Smith said. “The next best time is to start now. I think that we now have the ability to have those conversations. We’ve also learned a few things as well.” After she noted the costly collapse of Keystone XL — the cross-border project cancelled twice by successive U.S. administrations — Smith pointed to new opportunities. She highlighted South Bow Corp. ’s partnership with U.S.-based Bridger Pipeline LLC on a proposed crude line using pipe originally intended for Keystone XL, arguing that a U.S. partner could help clear regulatory hurdles. “We’ll know when that (open season) closes what the enthusiasm is for that kind of pipeline infrastructure to be built, but I suspect it’s going to be quite high,” Smith said. She added she hoped to see the project benefit from the help of a new White House agency designed to accelerate U.S. energy production — the National Energy Dominance Council. Smith said expanding pipeline capacity to the U.S. would give American buyers continued priority access to Canadian crude — a “first dibs” on Canadian exports, Smith said — while also helping Alberta to grow output and indirectly access global markets via the U.S. Gulf Coast. She suggested her conversations with industry and political leaders at the Houston conference were frequently on the topic of infrastructure — including a potential new cross-border natural gas export pipeline. “The conversation emerging down here is, how do we advance the two and a half million barrels per day of oil projects? How do we also find a way to get better integration on natural gas?” Smith said, noting Canadian natural gas producers were struggling to send supply to buyers and liquefied natural gas terminals in the U.S. Both countries are “flooded” with natural gas, Smith said, but not all of it is making it to market. “Maybe we should have a conversation; is there a more direct route, so that all of that gas that is stranded can be picked up along the way, so it can get to export markets where it’s needed?” Smith said. “That may be a future conversation that emerges from some of the discussions we’ve had here.” Smith said the political conversation around trade and tariffs had distracted the largely peaceful and productive relations between the two countries. “We’re just sort of your quiet, friendly neighbour. We just want to be helpful. We don’t want to pick any fights,” Smith said. “We’re very boring up in Canada. We’d like to continue to be boring and we would just like to get some business done.” On a proposed West Coast export pipeline, Smith said she hoped to see the province reach a carbon pricing agreement with the federal government by April 1. The deal is a key precondition for advancing Alberta’s pipeline project under a memorandum of understanding signed last November with the Carney government. However, the premier warned that a separate deadline tied to a related three-way agreement with oilsands producers and Ottawa on a major carbon capture and storage project would likely be missed. “We’re still going down that pathway of how do we develop our resource, but also reduce the emissions profile over a longer period of time,” Smith said. “Those are things that we need to get to the finish line. April 1 is one of our key target dates, and maybe a few weeks after on getting an agreement with the Oil Sands Alliance.” • Email: mpotkins@postmedia.com National Bank CEO pushes for Keystone XL revival and Eastern energy corridorQatar energy outage could boost Canadian LNG projects