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American oil boom could hurt Canada’s economy

A boom in American oil production may affect demand for Canadian crude, the Globe and Mail reports.

New wells in North Dakota, Oklahoma, Colorado, Michigan, and Florida have American oil production up by 75 per cent. Today the U.S imports 45 per cent of its petroleum, and 6.7 million barrels a day from OPEC countries, but experts predict that by 2022 only a million barrels per day will be delivered to U.S. shores by tanker.

This shift to home grown oil has been inspired by changing political alliances, and made possible by changing technology.

For Canada, there may be grim consequences. Canadian crude will still be exported to the U.S, but the demand will likely stop growing and level out by 2018. This new reality almost certainly raises the stakes when it comes to the controversial Northern Gateway pipeline, which would help to export Canadian oil to Asian markets.

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