This answers the question in a very simple way.  And the photos of what our   
   oil looks like makes it even more clear.   
   __________________________________   
   August 8, 2018 - NP   
      
      
   Why has Canada spent billions of dollars buying Saudi Arabian oil?   
      
   Despite sitting on an ocean of oil, Canada still buys $300 million per month   
   of Saudi crude   
      
   As Saudi Arabia aggressively severs ties with Canada, the two countries’   
   trade relationship hangs in the balance.  On one hand, Canada will lose out on   
   Saudi foreign students, military contracts and sales of wheat and grain.  On   
   the other, Saudi Arabia    
   will lose the billions of dollars it earns every year by selling oil to Canada.   
      
   For years, it has been an oft-repeated Alberta grievance that these imports   
   exist at all.  Despite sitting atop an ocean of proven oil reserves, Canada   
   continues to spend a small fortune every year buying oil from a country that   
   executes homosexuals,    
   flogs dissidents and has a nasty habit of funding Islamic extremism.   
      
   Below, a quick guide to why Canadians are still gassing up their cars with   
   Saudi crude.   
      
   Over the last 10 years, Canada has spent $20.9 billion on Saudi crude   
      
   Between 2007 and 2017, Statistics Canada figures show that Canada imported a   
   total of $20.9 billion of Saudi Arabian petroleum oils.  For context, this is   
   almost precisely what Canada spends on its military per year. It’s also way   
   more than the    
   expected $15.7 billion cost of the Energy East pipeline.   
      
   On average, in recent years, Saudi Arabia supplies about 10 per cent of   
   Canada’s oil imports. Canada, in turn, is responsible for buying roughly 1.5   
   per cent of total Saudi oil exports.  What’s more, Saudi Arabia is climbing   
   the leader board of    
   countries that Canada’s relies upon for its foreign oil.  As recently as   
   2010, Saudi Arabia ranked as Canada’s fifth largest supplier of foreign oil   
   (behind Algeria, Norway, the U.K. and Kazakhstan).  Now, Saudi Arabia is   
   second only to the United    
   States.   
   ________________   
      
   Graph showing crude oil imports into Canada. Although Canada’s primary   
   supplier of foreign oil remains the United States, Saudi Arabia is in a firm   
   second place. National Energy Board   
   https://nationalpostcom.files.wordpress.com/2018/08/graph.jpg?w=   
   14&quality=60&strip=all&zoom=2   
   _________________   
      
   Right now, all the Saudi oil is coming through a single New Brunswick refinery   
      
   All of the Saudi oil imported into Canada in 2017 and 2018 came through New   
   Brunswick, which only has one oil import facility: The massive Irving   
   Oil-owned Saint John refinery.     
      
   Between January and June of this year that refinery has imported $1.8 billion   
   of Saudi oil — roughly $10 million per day.  The amount of U.S. oil entering   
   the refinery, for comparison, is equivalent only to about $3.8 million per   
   day.  Unlike most    
   Canadian refineries, Saint John has no access to a pipeline; every barrel of   
   oil it processes either comes by tanker or train. (The oil train that caused   
   the Lac-Mégantic rail disaster, in fact, was headed to the Saint John   
   refinery).   
      
   “We source crude oil from all over the world for our refinery in Saint John,   
   N.B.,” a spokesman for Irving Oil told the National Post in 2016.  And   
   whenever someone is seeking out the cheapest product from the world market,   
   it’s not unusual that a    
   lot of it is going to come from oil-rich Saudi Arabia.  It’s like turning to   
   the world market to buy the cheapest possible t-shirts: Chances are that   
   they’re going to come from Bangladesh.   
      
   Alberta and Saudi oil aren’t necessarily the same thing   
      
   On paper, Canada could become energy self-sufficient tomorrow.  Every day we   
   produce about 3.9 million barrels of oil per day, and use less than 2 million   
   barrels.  A study this year from the Canadian Energy Research Institute even   
   calculated that energy    
   self-sufficiency might reduce emissions.   
      
   But think of oil like whiskey: There are many different types and qualities. A   
   bourbon connoisseur probably isn’t going to be happy with a bottle of Old   
   Crow and a Manhattan isn’t going to taste the same if it’s made out of   
   Scotch.   
      
   Similarly, Alberta oil is not interchangeable with the stuff coming out of   
   Saudi Arabia.  Andrew Leach, an energy economist at the University of Alberta,   
   even said that comparing the two is like comparing apples and oranges.    
   “Saudi crude and WCS (   
   Western Canadian Select) doesn’t overlap much in terms of their markets,”   
   he told the National Post.     
      
   For one thing, most eastern Canadian refineries cannot process bitumen, the   
   thick tar-like hydrocarbon that comes out of the Athabasca Oil Sands.  Almost   
   anybody can process Saudi Arabian crude, but only an elite fraternity of the   
   world’s most complex    
   refineries can turn Alberta bitumen into gasoline.     
      
   To get to the east coast, Canadian bitumen also has to be shipped overland   
   from more than 4,000 kilometres away, significantly adding to its total costs   
   (Saudi Arabia is 10,000 kilometres away from the Canadian east coast, but   
   tanker shipment is cheap).   
      
   It’s also why Western Canadian Select, the industry name for most oil sands   
   bitumen, sells at such a steep discount to more conventional oil types coming   
   out of Saudi Arabia.  In June, for instance, WCS sold at an average of   
   USD$52.10 a barrel,    
   compared to USD$67.87 for West Texas Intermediate (WTI), an oil category   
   priced similarly to most Middle Eastern oils.   
      
   “The oil Alberta produces is simply of a lower quality than … WTI, and is   
   located farther away from customers,” writes the Alberta government in an   
   online briefing note describing the WCS “discount.”   
   _______________________   
      
   A sample of bitumen pictured in 2014. This is much different than what Saudi   
   Arabia is selling.    [. . .  and what Rachel Notley wants to move by expanded   
   pipelines - and a whole lot of toxic dillutants - through BC and its oceans] :   
      
   https://nationalpostcom.files.wordpress.com/2018/08/qmi_es_shell   
   albian_sands_north_fort_mcmurray_oil_sands_41.jpg?w=414&quality=   
   0&strip=all&zoom=2   
   ___________________________   
      
   Even with a pipeline, it’s not a guarantee that refineries would buy Canadian   
      
   The cancelled Energy East pipeline, of course, would have pumped Saskatchewan   
   and Alberta petroleum into New Brunswick.  Politicians touted the pipeline as   
   a way to supplant foreign suppliers such as Saudi Arabia.     
      
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)