Oil companies/ Oh Canada

[spewey at comcast.net (Spewey)]

I'm hot and bored so I decided to look up info about Canada.

Though the US imports about twice as much as it produces to meet demand, 
Canada exports more of its domestic production than it consumes and then 
imports oil from the North Sea (lands of bad teeth and lutefisk) and 
Middle East (Ministry of Flogging Gays).  This is done because it's 
cheaper to supply Quebec and Ontario from abroad than pipe it from 
Edmonton.  Nice maps:
http://www2.nrcan.gc.ca/es/ener2000/online/html/chap3a_e.cfm

"If Canada produces more oil than it uses, why can't it set a "Made in 
Canada" price?"
http://www.oppi-bipp.gc.ca/faq/faq4_e.cfm

What else is different?  The taxes:
http://www.oppi-bipp.gc.ca/faq/faq3_e.cfm

This page has more detail about the balance between provinces and shows 
that overall the situation is similar to the US albeit with less 
population and more territory.  Refinery output is maxed out and ULSD 
laws mean those big chemistry sets need to be retooled carefully aka 
"further complications to an already delicate market."
http://www.oppi-bipp.gc.ca/reports/2006-04/supply_demand_e.cfm

Other fun facts:

Can gal:US gal is 1.2:1 so Cathy's 40 mpg is 33 down here.  But how did 
she compute this if she was buying US gallons?

Today I am wearing my Canada shirt.  I love it because it has worn so 
thin that it is great in hot weather.  It's a grey t-shirt with an 
embroidered official leaf/name logo that I got 10 years ago when I had 
to fix a Chevy van on a Sunday.  A friend was putting up a woman who had 
just arrived from the East Coast and her fuel pump broke.  I usually 
avoid American cars but she needed a favor.

Those vans have a stubby hood and a doghouse inside to work on the 
engine but the fuel pump is right in between on top.  When I pulled it 
off, nasty gas ran down my armpit and ruined my shirt.  I don't like to 
get dirty at all but this was awful.

My friend wears a lot of t-shirts punk, ska, indie, scooter, that kind 
of thing but he loaned me one he would never wear, the Canada shirt.  I 
finished the job clean and he said keep it.  I figured I could use it to 
work on cars again later and I did but magically it never got grease 
dirty.  It's my favorite shirt and I don't open beer with it so it 
doesn't rip at the bottom anymore.