Canadian premiers turned a CERAWeek panel into a venting session as measures on steel and aluminum imports take effect.
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Welcome to our guide to the energy and commodities powering the economy. This week, we’re coming to you from global oil and gas get-together CERAWeek in Houston, where delegates confront a very different political landscape from last year. Reporters Millie Munshi and Joe Carroll discuss the Canadian response to new US tariffs. Meanwhile, a Bloomberg Editorial examines the economic impact.
“Why do you do this to your best friend?”
The admonishment from Alberta Energy Minister Brian Jean crystallizes the resounding messages of shock, dismay and anger from Canadian officials attending Day Two of CERAWeek by S&P Global, the key energy conference in Houston.
An all-Canadian panel took center stage just as headlines broke from the White House at a staggering pace. President Donald Trump on Tuesday morning threatened to double steel and aluminum tariffs on the northern neighbor — only to back down later in the day to his previously announced 25% rate.
The panel, which included officials from Alberta, Ontario and Saskatchewan provinces, turned into a bit of a venting session. The conversation veered from frustration and anger to encouraging patriotism and urging the nation to find new trade partners.
“Tariffs and escalating counter-tariffs do nothing to benefit the North American economy” and damage food and manufacturing security, Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe said. The ripple effects will spread to other economies around the globe, given Canada’s prodigious food exports, he warned.
Meanwhile, Ontario Energy Minister Stephen Lecce called the current period “an incredible moment for Canadian nationalism, patriotism and resurgence,” adding that his compatriots “almost needed this kick in the butt” to become less reliant on its southern neighbor.
Earlier this week, outgoing Prime Minister Justin Trudeau urged the nation to keep its “elbows up” — an ice hockey reference to toughness that’s gone viral in the aftermath of Trump’s policies.
“All Canadians are feeling pretty shocked that Canada is being treated in a manner that is actually worse than China,” Energy Minister Jonathan Wilkinson said during an interview with Bloomberg Radio.
On the sidelines of the conference, comments from US executives were more measured. Chad Zamarin, an executive vice president at Williams Cos. Inc., said the pipeline operator is concerned about seeing price increases because of Trump’s tariffs — but he also touted planning for long-term business cycles.
ConocoPhillips Chief Executive Officer Ryan Lance warned of “some early signs of inflationary forces.”
“We have to give the administration a bit of an opportunity to work through this,” he said.
–Millie Munshi and Joe Carroll, Bloomberg News
Key takeaways from Tuesday
- Scott Sheffield, the shale impresario who built a fortune in the Permian Basin, has grim advice for old rivals as Trump urges “drill, baby, drill.”
- BP Plc CEO Murray Auchincloss talked up his reset for the troubled British oil major.
- TC Energy Corp.’s Sur de Texas-Tuxpan pipeline transporting natural gas from Texas to Mexico is expected to ramp up in coming months.
- The CEO of GE Vernova Inc. said his backlog of orders for gas turbines, power transformers and switchgear stretches into 2028.
Highlights from Wednesday’s agenda
Michael Smith, Freeport LNG Development LP’s CEO, takes the stage with Toby Rice, the boss of EQT Corp., the largest US producer of the fossil fuel. The outlook for gas in the AI boom is a hot topic, and the executives will discuss “Strategies for Gas in a Fast-Changing Market.”
Later, Venture Global Inc.’s co-founder Mike Sabel joins another gas panel with Excelerate Energy Inc.’s CEO Steven Kobos and the chief of Williams Cos., Alan Armstrong.
Other key speakers include US Interior Secretary Doug Burgum; Exxon Mobil Corp.’s Dan Ammann, the head of upstream oil and gas business; Turkish Energy Minister Alparslan Bayraktar; and Ukraine’s DTEK Group CEO Maxim Timchenko.
Chart of the day
Source: BloombergNEF, US Energy Information Administration (EIA), US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
Note: Values for 2024 are projected, accounting for seasonality, based on latest monthly values from the US EIA (data available through September 2024). Electricity is excluded from industrial, residential, commercial and transportation sectors and aggregated in “power.” “BTUs” refers to British thermal units.
The US economy expanded by 2.8% last year, while primary energy consumption increased by just 0.5%, according to BloombergNEF’s Sustainable Energy in America Factbook. In other words, “energy productivity” (the ratio of gross domestic product to total energy consumption) increased by 2.3% year-on-year to reach the highest level on record. Solar additions helped push renewable sources to 24% of domestic power generation.
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