Lamphier: ‘I think Alberta is the future’: Italian ambassador
Cornado likes reliability of oilsands production
By Gary Lamphier, Edmonton JournalMay 7, 2014
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EDMONTON - Italy’s goal of diversifying its global energy supplies could eventually pave the way for crude imports from Alberta’s oilsands.
In an interview Monday with the Journal, Gian Lorenzo Cornado, Italy’s ambassador to Canada, said his country will consider importing crude from Alberta if TransCanada’s proposed $12-billion Energy East pipeline gets built.
“We are talking about huge potential expansion of oil production in the oilsands,” Cornado said, after meeting with Alberta Premier Dave Hancock and other senior government officials. It was his fourth visit to Alberta in the past two years.
“For Italy and for Italian companies like Saipem (which opened a large plant in Edmonton last year), we are interested to be among the key players to come here and exploit these resources, but also with a view to (securing) a possible supply of Canadian oil to Europe,” he said.
“Right now we are talking about (importing liquefied natural gas) but maybe one day we’ll also be talking about oil. So I think Alberta is the future. It’s a wonderful land of opportunity.”
Italy, which has the second-largest crude oil refining capacity in Europe after Germany, imports about two million barrels of oil and refined petroleum products a day. Its key suppliers include Libya, Saudi Arabia and Russia.
Russia’s invasion of Crimea and rising tensions in eastern Ukraine have prompted Italy and other European nations to intensify efforts to reduce their reliance on Russian energy, however.
Following a meeting in Rome Tuesday, energy ministers from the Group of Seven industrialized nations vowed to keep Russian President Vladimir Putin from using the threat of a cut-off of energy supplies as a political weapon. Russia has long been the largest supplier of natural gas to Europe.
Cornado said security of supply is becoming an increasingly critical factor as Italy and other European countries look for other sources of oil and gas around the globe.
“It (importing Alberta crude) will be a matter of costs of course, and it’s not something we will be able to do tomorrow, since 2018 is the time frame” for the proposed startup of the 1.1-million-barrel-per-day Energy East pipeline.
“So it will definitely depend on Alberta’s competitiveness. But we want to diversify our sources of energy, and with Canada being a very close friend, partner and ally, it would be an absolutely reliable supplier.”
glamphier@edmontonjournal.com
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