據彭博社4月14日報道，加拿大能源監管機構的一份最新的報告顯示，加拿大越來越依賴從美國進口的石油，這與人們對跨境輸油管道和能源獨立的激烈爭論似乎背道而馳。

　　數據顯示，2020年，加拿大對化石燃料的需求因新冠肺炎疫情的影響而嚴重下降，其中，每五桶進口原油中有近四桶是由美國提供的。加拿大約77%的進口石油來自美國，高于2019年的72%和2010年的6%。值得一提的是，在過去10年中，美國國內油氣產量大幅飆升。

　　該監管機構的首席經濟學家達倫·克里斯蒂(Darren Christie)表示：“我們確實經常認為兩國之間的石油運輸關系是‘加拿大生產石油并出口到美國’。但事實并非如此，我們也從美國進口產品。”

　　不過，密切關注加拿大和美國貿易流動，尤其是能源領域的貿易流動的觀察人士，可能不會對近年來大量美國原油向北流動感到太驚訝。去年，美國吸收了加拿大96%的石油出口，其中大部分是重質原油，其中一半以上銷往美國中西部，在過去15年的大部分時間里，美國中西部一直是管道爭端的焦點。

　　但克里斯蒂指出，在水力壓裂和水平鉆井等新開采技術的推動下，美國石油和天然氣產量大幅增加，兩國煉油廠對原料的獲取變得十分便利。他補充道:“在過去10年里，原油產量增加了一倍多，這是相當顯著的增長。這將導致美國的原油供應大幅減少。此前，加拿大從世界各地進口一些原油，我們處在美國北方的地理位置，使得加拿大成為美國大量增加出口投放的市場。”

　　盡管外國石油長期以來一直是加拿大能源組合的一部分，但最新的數據，從美國進口的比例來看，使人們對兩國管道系統的連接產生不同的看法。

　　要知道，美國取消了Keystone XL輸油管道的擴建計劃，這條輸油管道將每天額外向美國墨西哥灣沿岸的煉油廠輸送80萬桶油砂瀝青。

　　密歇根州目前正與Enbridge公司就格雷琴·惠特默州長試圖關閉5號線的行為進行審理。5號線是一條重要的跨境能源線路，穿越了生態敏感的麥基諾海峽下的五大湖。這條輸油管道的支持者們普遍認為，它是為安大略省薩尼亞(Sarnia)煉油廠提供能源的基礎設施的關鍵組成部分。僅在密歇根州，就提供了超過一半的家庭取暖所需的丙烷，更不用說加上鄰近的各州了。

　　加拿大大西洋地區對美國石油的依賴尤其嚴重，在這個地區，輸油管道通常是不可取的。過去十年里，那里煉油廠進口量增加了十倍。

　　美國石油研究所(American Petroleum Institute)在一份報告中表示，盡管加拿大對美國的能源出口是對美對加拿大出口的六倍多，但從能源供應和經濟影響的角度來看，兩國之間的相互依存關系是緊密的。

　　在過去的10年里，兩國間的石油交易價值已高達加美貿易總額的20%。美國石油學會表示，加拿大東部90%的石油經過美國或從美國進口。該公司表示:“雙邊貿易額均以原油為主。原油貿易增長的主要動力是通過管道和鐵路從加拿大西部運往美國中西部和墨西哥灣沿岸的重質原油，以及通過管道和海運船從北達科他州和德克薩斯州運往加拿大東部的輕質原油。”

　　王佳晶 摘譯自 彭博社

　　原文如下：

　　U.S. oil comprised 77% of Canada's foreign oil imports last year: regulator

　　Canada is growing ever more reliant on imported American oil, a new report from the country's energy regulator suggests, putting a counter-intuitive spin on the fierce debate about cross-border pipelines and energy independence.

　　The United States provided nearly four out of every five barrels of imported crude in 2020, a year when global demand for fossil fuels was badly dented by the COVID-19 pandemic, the latest data from the Canada Energy Regulator shows.

　　Some 77 per cent of Canadian imports came from the U.S., up from 72 per cent in 2019 and a paltry six per cent in 2010, before a dramatic spike in domestic American oil and gas production over the last decade.

　　“We do often think of the pipeline relationship between the two countries as being one of, 'Canada produces and exports to the U.S.,”' said Darren Christie, the regulator's chief economist.

　　“This is specifically showing that there is another side to that coin, which is that we also import production from the U.S.”

　　Close observers of Canada-U.S. trade flows, particularly those in the energy sector, might not be overly surprised by how much American crude oil has been travelling north in recent years.

　　The U.S. absorbed a whopping 96 per cent of Canadian oil exports last year, the bulk of it heavy crude, more than half of it to the U.S. Midwest, which has been ground zero for pipeline disputes for much of the last 15 years.

　　But a massive surge in U.S. oil and gas production, fuelled in part by new extraction technology like fracking and horizontal drilling, has made it a convenient source of feedstock for refineries in both countries, Christie said.

　　“Their crude oil production has more than doubled in the last 10 years, which is quite a remarkable increase,” he said.

　　“That creates a massive supply push out of the U.S. And if we are just north and had previously been importing some crudes from around the world, it's a natural market for a lot of that increased production out of the U.S.”

　　While foreign oil has long been a part of the Canadian energy mix, the latest numbers - along with the proportion of imports from the U.S. - casts the ongoing controversy over pipeline links between the two countries in a surprising new light.

　　On his first day in the Oval Office, President Joe Biden cancelled the Keystone XL pipeline expansion, which would have ferried an additional 800,000 barrels a day of Alberta oilsands bitumen to refineries on the U.S. Gulf Coast.

　　Michigan is currently in court with Enbridge Inc. over Gov. Gretchen Whitmer's efforts to shut down Line 5, a vital cross-border energy link that crosses the Great Lakes beneath the ecologically sensitive Straits of Mackinac.

　　The pipeline is widely billed by its defenders as a critical piece of infrastructure that feeds key refineries in Sarnia, Ont., and provides more than half of the propane needed to heat homes in Michigan alone, to say nothing of neighbouring states.

　　The dependence on U.S. oil is especially high in Atlantic Canada, a region of the country where pipelines are often not an option. Imports to refineries there have increased tenfold over the last decade.

　　While Canada's energy exports to the U.S. are more than six times what moves in the other direction, the interdependence between the two countries is dramatic, both from the standpoint of energy supply and economic impact, the American Petroleum Institute said in a report last week.

　　Over the past 10 years, the value of petroleum liquids traded between the two has measured as high as 20 per cent of all Canada-U.S. trade. Up to 90 per cent of oil refined in Eastern Canada travelled either through or from the U.S., the API said.

　　“Trade volumes in both directions are dominated by crude oil,” it said.

　　“Crude oil trade growth has been primarily driven by heavy crude oil shipped from Western Canada to the U.S. Midwest and Gulf Coast by pipeline and rail, and light crude oil from North Dakota and Texas shipped to Eastern Canada by pipeline and marine vessel.”