Harper Tells Obama Canada to Diversify Energy Exports
January 25, 2012, 12:22 AM ESTBy Theophilos Argitis
(Updates with Harper comment in third paragraph.)
Jan. 18 (Bloomberg) -- Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper told President Barack Obama in a telephone call today that Canada will seek to diversify its energy exports, after the U.S. rejected a plan to build a pipeline to carry Canadian oil.
Obama called Harper to tell him the U.S. had denied a permit for TransCanada Corp.’s Keystone XL oil pipeline, according to details of the call provided by Harper’s office.
Harper “expressed his profound disappointment with the news,” according to the statement.
Obama told Harper the rejection was not based on the project’s merit and that the company is free to re-apply. Harper told Obama he hoped the project would continue given its importance to growth in both countries.
--Editor: Paul Badertscher
To contact the reporter on this story: Theophilos Argitis in Ottawa at targitis@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Paul Badertscher at pbadertscher@bloomberg.net
