{ "id": "R44747", "type": "CRS Report", "typeId": "REPORTS", "number": "R44747", "active": true, "source": "EveryCRSReport.com", "versions": [ { "source": "EveryCRSReport.com", "id": 586833, "date": "2017-01-30", "retrieved": "2020-01-02T14:52:47.572218", "title": "Cross-Border Energy Trade in North America: Present and Potential", "summary": "The United States, Canada, and Mexico in many ways comprise one large, integrated market for energy commodities. Canada, for example, is the single largest foreign supplier of crude oil to the United States, and the United States is Canada\u2019s sole crude oil customer. Both Mexico and Canada are major buyers of petroleum products refined in the United States. A growing trade in natural gas produced in the United States is also increasingly important to the energy relationship among the three countries. Trade in the other energy commodities\u2014electricity, natural gas liquids, and coal\u2014is comparatively small, but regionally important. Altogether, the value of the energy trade between the United States and its North American neighbors exceeded $140 billion in 2015, with $100 billion in U.S. energy imports and over $40 billion in exports.\nThe United States\u2019 energy trade relationships with Canada and Mexico are increasingly complex. They have been undergoing fundamental change in recent years\u2014largely due to technological advancements in the petroleum and natural gas sectors creating new competition for energy supplies and new market interconnections. Consequently, while energy policies in one country have inevitably affected the others, their cross-cutting effects in the future are difficult to predict. Nonetheless, a review of the recent trade data highlights several key market developments.\nU.S. crude oil imports from both Canada and Mexico dominate the energy trade, but they support U.S. supplies of refined products to both those countries\u2014by far the United States\u2019 largest energy export commodity to its two neighbors.\nU.S. development of shale gas resources has been substituting for Canadian natural gas imports and driving a rapid increase in natural gas exports to Mexico, where such supplies are in high demand to fuel that country\u2019s growing electric power sector.\nCanada and, to a lesser extent, Mexico have potential to provide significant future supplies of renewable electricity to U.S. markets, which could help the United States meet environmental policy objectives.\nThe expansion of cross-border energy transportation infrastructure\u2014pipelines for oil and natural gas, and transmission lines for electricity\u2014has been an ongoing enabler of increased energy trade. A number of new projects are currently under construction or proposed to further expand cross-border capacity, but their completion is not assured.\nTo date, Congress has favored a growing North American energy partnership\u2014but ensuring that this partnership continues to be as mutually beneficial as possible will likely remain a key oversight challenge for the next decades. Congress has been facing important policy questions in the U.S.-Canada and U.S.-Mexico energy contexts on several fronts, including the siting of major cross-border pipelines, increasing petroleum supplies from Canadian oil sands, exporting natural gas production from United States\u2019 shales, and meeting commitments to increase renewable energy supplies and reduce atmospheric emissions of greenhouse gases. Legislative proposals in the 115th Congress could directly influence these developments.", "type": "CRS Report", "typeId": "REPORTS", "active": true, "formats": [ { "format": "HTML", "encoding": "utf-8", "url": "https://www.crs.gov/Reports/R44747", "sha1": "b416f220cc2299469a9eeaa2f37407bb8ad47a26", "filename": "files/20170130_R44747_b416f220cc2299469a9eeaa2f37407bb8ad47a26.html", "images": { "/products/Getimages/?directory=R/html/R44747_files&id=/0.png": "files/20170130_R44747_images_ebb4a81c6b97ca6fb6bce0c6a755ca8bae2748d6.png", "/products/Getimages/?directory=R/html/R44747_files&id=/19.png": "files/20170130_R44747_images_43d9481ca9d9ca809dcaa7a76eb0c526b02eeb87.png", "/products/Getimages/?directory=R/html/R44747_files&id=/15.png": "files/20170130_R44747_images_30822d3ff15d3968541f506a829deb6d61dff85b.png", "/products/Getimages/?directory=R/html/R44747_files&id=/14.png": "files/20170130_R44747_images_b8e1efaf54eb56f21a37330a74abd63cf1e95081.png", "/products/Getimages/?directory=R/html/R44747_files&id=/5.png": "files/20170130_R44747_images_b2f19fb1b6013632dbed3cea00162064bed4b2dc.png", "/products/Getimages/?directory=R/html/R44747_files&id=/10.png": "files/20170130_R44747_images_405800caece91538f9be0b409f7dc76ec4da3204.png", "/products/Getimages/?directory=R/html/R44747_files&id=/2.png": "files/20170130_R44747_images_048c1a55a433620d5cf5e14229238e27a0a1873a.png", "/products/Getimages/?directory=R/html/R44747_files&id=/7.png": "files/20170130_R44747_images_abc5050b2efe9047df273f4383a8726ab51f2663.png", "/products/Getimages/?directory=R/html/R44747_files&id=/3.png": "files/20170130_R44747_images_b94c66445f858edd07a48d41789276b80e65cfd9.png", "/products/Getimages/?directory=R/html/R44747_files&id=/20.png": "files/20170130_R44747_images_95ac4a3e52f00b03d74b79c84c2f527597d77047.png", "/products/Getimages/?directory=R/html/R44747_files&id=/12.png": "files/20170130_R44747_images_0437f5ac024d6d2efdceeee7d6f71706f395da7f.png", "/products/Getimages/?directory=R/html/R44747_files&id=/9.png": "files/20170130_R44747_images_4e12e2f4efe07162c125a18b2173ee5abf48d539.png", "/products/Getimages/?directory=R/html/R44747_files&id=/21.png": "files/20170130_R44747_images_a8eafae561fe4fd33f5fc37cb3cec2230f795a10.png", "/products/Getimages/?directory=R/html/R44747_files&id=/11.png": "files/20170130_R44747_images_1b089a555a3210e27143b21f63e27bfab59ae954.png", "/products/Getimages/?directory=R/html/R44747_files&id=/22.png": "files/20170130_R44747_images_b44f2ad7dcc3c14bd6b0ba6a724c186e771beaef.png", "/products/Getimages/?directory=R/html/R44747_files&id=/8.png": "files/20170130_R44747_images_58597e44ba8baa8f05aaed6fdb11726ba074b534.png", "/products/Getimages/?directory=R/html/R44747_files&id=/1.png": "files/20170130_R44747_images_95bd326c89afdcfc4f25265a1d7f571c0dd8da63.png", "/products/Getimages/?directory=R/html/R44747_files&id=/13.png": "files/20170130_R44747_images_37473c41c14dfe68047204b75f6bc3aa474b92eb.png", "/products/Getimages/?directory=R/html/R44747_files&id=/17.png": "files/20170130_R44747_images_6e6515733df43330890f8ea920f9ef48878daa88.png", "/products/Getimages/?directory=R/html/R44747_files&id=/6.png": "files/20170130_R44747_images_76e24ae255ff6e0bc153aa48440cfb1ae063f5ff.png", "/products/Getimages/?directory=R/html/R44747_files&id=/4.png": "files/20170130_R44747_images_d2cc85cf7ccf77ba310d6a50dbe98ad68796b3e7.png", "/products/Getimages/?directory=R/html/R44747_files&id=/18.png": "files/20170130_R44747_images_c300531763a510c143a38757796055f758813588.png", "/products/Getimages/?directory=R/html/R44747_files&id=/16.png": "files/20170130_R44747_images_deadeeaba3153debe795b127ea11ff5cd65ce534.png" } }, { "format": "PDF", "encoding": null, "url": "https://www.crs.gov/Reports/pdf/R44747", "sha1": "8bcf4d3efa6a426ef8920a0f77c7c4fb7a58634c", "filename": "files/20170130_R44747_8bcf4d3efa6a426ef8920a0f77c7c4fb7a58634c.pdf", "images": {} } ], "topics": [ { "source": "IBCList", "id": 4780, "name": "Energy & Natural Resources Trade & Economics" }, { "source": "IBCList", "id": 4938, "name": "Major Economies & U.S. Trade Relations" } ] } ], "topics": [ "Economic Policy", "Energy Policy", "Transportation Policy" ] }