Canadian Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver said November 13 he wants a regulatory decision by early 2013, a year ahead of the current schedule, on Enbridge's Northern Gateway project to expedite the shipment of Alberta oil sands crude to Asia.
Back from a week in China and Japan, he said both countries are eager to see Canada start its first large-scale crude exports to Asia.
"The Chinese are ready to buy," he told the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. "The issue is building the infrastructure to get our resources to China."
To that end, Oliver said he now expects Northern Gateway's hearings to be completed within a year of starting in January 2012.
Northern Gateway, designed to export 525,000 b/d to the Asian-Pacific region, is seen as one of the strongest export alternatives for oil sands producers in the event TransCanada abandons its Keystone XL pipeline project rather than comply with a decision by the U.S. State Department to work on an alternative route through Nebraska.
While insisting that he will not interfere in the Northern Gateway process, Oliver said it is a "fundamental strategic objective" of the Canadian government to diversify its customer base for oil beyond the United States.
He made his comments prior to a scheduled November 13 meeting between US President Barack Obama and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper following the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation summit in Honolulu.
Harper is expected to voice his concerns over the Keystone XL delay at that session.
Northern Gateway is facing similar environmental opposition to Keystone XL as it prepares to embark on public hearings before a Joint Review Panel of Canada's National Energy Board and the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency.
More than 4,000 individuals and groups have registered to take an allotted 10 minutes each to speak at the hearings, which will take place in 23 communities, raising concerns that the panel could take two years to complete its work.
An Enbridge spokesman told Platts that although his company welcomes public input, it is increasingly worried that Northern Gateway's start-up date, already about 12 months behind its original timetable, could be pushed beyond 2017.
However, Oliver said a summit of Canada's federal, provincial and territorial energy ministers last summer agreed to take steps to streamline regulatory decision-making for major energy projects by eliminating duplication.
