this post was submitted on 13 Mar 2026
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Amid an energy crisis, the world is drawing on its oil reserves. Why doesn't Canada have any? (www.cbc.ca)
submitted 3 hours ago by HellsBelle@sh.itjust.works to c/canada@lemmy.ca
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With war in the Middle East keeping the critical Strait of Hormuz fuel route closed, the international community is reaching into its oil reserves to fill the supply gap.

On Wednesday, the International Energy Agency (IEA) agreed to release 400 million barrels from its emergency reserves — its largest-ever release — in order to help ease a disruption of "unprecedented" scale, the IEA said.

That's drawing scrutiny of Canada's oil reserves — or, rather, its lack of them, as Canada is the only nation in the G7 that doesn't maintain a strategic reserve.

While Natural Resources Minister Tim Hodgson said on Wednesday that Canada would "do its part" to help contribute to the global oil supply, Conservative Party Leader Pierre Poilievre criticized the Liberal government for not having any reserves.

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[–] sbv@sh.itjust.works 4 points 2 hours ago (2 children)

I wonder what form those reserves take. Oil has a short shelf life, so I'm assuming it's a bunch of storage tanks that are constantly being emptied and refilled.

[–] nik282000@lemmy.ca 1 points 49 minutes ago

Literally hundreds of millions of years underground, but it spoils at sea level?

[–] PhantomNomad@lemmy.ca 2 points 1 hour ago (1 children)

Do you know what the shelf life of oil is? I'm just curious.

[–] lost_faith@lemmy.ca 1 points 1 hour ago

How long does gasoline last in a car tank is usually three to six months. In a sealed container it often lasts 6-12 months. https://www.elanfuels.com/how-long-does-gasoline-last-fuel-tank-storage-stable-time-stay-ethanol-petrol/

ExxonMobil states, "In general, the recommended shelf life for oils and greases is typically five years when stored properly in the original sealed containers." - Drums of oil do not contain anything that goes bad in the way food does. However, oil can be degraded due to contaminants and/or additive dropout because of mishandling. https://petroleumservicecompany.com/blog/what-is-the-shelf-life-of-oil-ins-and-outs-of-oil-storage/

[–] Magister@lemmy.world 1 points 3 hours ago (2 children)

As far as I understand Canada has shit lot of oil, but decided to sell it to the USA, and import/buy from Africa/Middle East/Word. It does not make sense.

[–] nyan@lemmy.cafe 3 points 1 hour ago

We have a lot of crude oil, but not enough refineries to handle our complete yearly production. So some of it inevitably gets exported (25%? I forget.)

There's also the fact that not all oil is created equal. Crude oil from the Alberta tar sands is heavy and sulfurous and contaminated with heavy metals. Some products are much more easily made from imported light oil, or from a mixture of types.

[–] HellsBelle@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 hour ago

Canada has heavy crude oil > that must be mixed with light crude oil from other sources > which can then be refined into usable oil.

We ship our heavy crude to the US through pipelines, rail and soon-to-be ocean tankers.