Jason Kenney Is Asking The US To Buy Alberta Oil As It's 'A Shorter Flight' Than Riyadh

Alberta Premier Jason Kenney has called on U.S. President Joe Biden to look north to Alberta to help make up a shortfall in oil after the U.S. banned the import of Russian oil and gas.

Last year, the U.S. imported almost 700,000 barrels a day of crude oil from Russia, but in response to the ongoing conflict between Russia an Ukraine, they have now introduced further sanctions on Russia, including oil imports.

Speaking at an energy conference in Houston, Texas, Kenney said Alberta is the “natural answer to the challenge of global energy security”.

“Our message to the White House is instead of visiting Riyadh, how about visiting Calgary? It’s a much shorter flight,” he said.

Canada has the third-largest oil reserves in the world and Alberta produces around 3.91 million barrels of crude oil each day — 82% of all the oil produced in Canada.

West Texas Intermediate crude oil prices reached over $128.50 per barrel on Tuesday before the U.S. announced its sanctions.

Kenney has previously talked about the controversial Keystone XL pipeline as a potential solution to secure fuel for the U.S. but the project was scrapped after Biden revoked a key permit necessary for the pipeline.

“It would have delivered over 800,000 barrels a day of responsibly produced oil to help fuel the American economy,” Kenney said in a news conference last month.

Earlier this week, Kenney announced fuel tax in Alberta would be scrapped due to “skyrocketing” fuel prices, which would save drivers in Alberta 13 cents a litre on gas across the