By Stephen Legault, Senior Manager, Alberta Energy Transition, Environmental Defence

Canmore | Traditional territories of the Treaty 7 Nations – Pro-oil commentators are currently lining up to argue that the U.S. attack on Venezuela and the possible future production of tar sands look-alike heavy crude mean that Canada should diversify its exports to ensure a new bitumen pipeline to the B.C. Northwest Coast is constructed. But does this make sense? 

Every indicator says that the global transition to clean energy is well underway and accelerating rapidly. According to the International Energy Agency, oil demand will start a slow, steady decline within the next few years. This transition will accelerate as renewable energy and battery storage become ever less expensive, easier to deploy, and more widely adopted, especially in places outside of North America. 

Venezuela may sit atop the world’s largest proven oil reserve, but the infrastructure needed to extract that heavy crude is in complete disarray and will take years or decades to repair or replace. The same can be said for a new pipeline from Alberta’s tar sands to coastal ports: a decade or more in the making, and at a cost of tens of billions of dollars, with oil projected to flow well after the energy transition has removed demand for millions of barrels a day from the global market. What oil company board of directors would greenlight an economically irresponsible investment, especially in an unstable country whose ongoing export depends on U.S. military force? If the oil and gas industry is not interested in investing in more production capacity in Canada, why would they do so in Venezuela? They know what is coming and are focused on profit-taking while they still can.

The smarter investment for Canada today is in renewable energy, particularly solar, wind, geothermal, and storage technologies, all of which Canada has in abundance. Venezuelan oil, if it ever again appears in greater abundance, will enter a world awash in cheap oil and falling demand.

ABOUT ENVIRONMENTAL DEFENCE (environmentaldefence.ca): Environmental Defence is a leading Canadian environmental advocacy organization that works with government, industry and individuals to defend clean water, a safe climate and healthy communities.

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For more information or to request an interview, please contact:

Midhat Moini, Environmental Defence, media@environmentaldefence.ca