Canada's cheaper, cleaner and lower-risk oil can rival a resurgent Venezuela, Carney says

Prime Minister Mark Carney says he's not worried about the prospect of increased oil production from Venezuela challenging Canada's energy exports because Canadian oil is cheaper, cleaner and lower-risk.

Carney made the comments at a press conference in Paris on Tuesday after being asked if he was concerned that U.S. President Donald Trump's play for Venezuelan oil this week increased the need to speed up the construction of another bitumen pipeline from Alberta to the B.C. coast.

"Canadian oil will be competitive because it is low-risk, clearly low-risk, low cost — the marginal costs, there's been huge progress on getting down the costs, and low carbon, which is what the Pathways project carbon capture will bring," Carney said.  

"That makes Canadian oil competitive for the medium and long term," he added. 

After launching military strikes against Venezuela and arresting Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro, Trump said U.S. oil companies would go into the country, fix the oil infrastructure and oversee the industry. 

Those comments raised concerns that Venezuelan oil, a heavy crude similar to Canadian heavy bitumen, could displace Canada's exports to the U.S.

Carney dismissed that concern on Tuesday, saying while he welcomed "the prospect of greater prosperity in Venezuela," Canada has already made moves to increase oil shipments to Asia and diversify its exports beyond the U.S. 

"We've got a competitive product and we've been diversifying our markets and that's one of the reasons why we signed the comprehensive MOU with Alberta," he said in Paris, where he is attending a summit to hash out security guarantees for Ukraine. 

Canada's oilsands produce nearly five million barrels of oil per day, the vast majority of which is exported to the U.S.

While Venezuela has the world's largest proven crude oil reserves, the country only produced about 900,000 barrels per day last year, down from the 3.5 million barrels per day it was producing in 1999.

Carney said the removal of Maduro — "an illegitimate, corrupt, repressive government" — would lead to a "not-corrupt Venezuelan economy" that produces more oil, and that will be a good thing for the Venezuelan people and the Western Hemisphere as a whole. 

That's a different view than the one expressed by Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre in a letter to Carney posted on social media on Tuesday.

He warned that Venezuela's heavy crude production "could rapidly rebound to historic levels," putting it in direct competition with Canada for space in American refineries that specialize in heavy crude.

"Every barrel the United States sources from Venezuela could mean one less barrel these refineries would buy from Canada. We therefore need new markets to sell to, and we need them quickly," Poilievre wrote.