Canada, US, close to oil exclusivity

The United States sent all of its crude oil exports to Canada in February and overseas imports declined, the U.S. Energy Department reported. The Energy Department's Energy Information Administration reports that U.S. crude oil exports to Canada for February were up 75 percent from January to 3.4 million barrels. Canada relies on the United States almost exclusively for oil exports, sending 2.69 million barrels across the border in February, compared to 2.63 the previous month. Canadian lawmakers visited Washington recently to support approval of the Keystone XL pipeline. TransCanada aims to build the cross-border pipeline to get more of Canada's crude oil, dubbed oil sands, to refineries on southern U.S. coast. Supporters of the pipeline say it will encourage North American energy independence while providing economic stimulus. Opponents say oil sands production is more dangerous to the environment and the corrosive nature of oil sands makes it riskier to deliver. Canada was the largest source of U.S. imports of crude oil. Combined, all 12 members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries sent 2.9 million barrels of oil to the United States in February, an 18 percent decline from January. Canada was the only country that received crude oil from the United States in February. For OPEC members, only Saudi Arabia, with 1 million barrels of oil, and Iraq, with 529,000 barrels of oil, exported more to the United States in February than in January.