Canada is looking across the Atlantic Ocean to Europe for its future crude oil exports as trade and political tensions with the U.S. continue to rise.
In the midst of a federal election that will send voters to the polls on April 28, Canada’s Liberal and Conservative political parties are each talking about shifting crude oil and natural gas exports to Europe, a move that could potentially benefit oil majors such as Shell (SHEL), British Petroleum (BP), and TotalEnergies (FR:TTE).
Each political party in Canada is promising to build oil and natural gas infrastructure and pipelines that will carry crude oil and natural gas to the country’s Atlantic coast and onto Europe. The targeting of Europe for energy exports comes as the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump imposes 10% tariffs on Canadian oil and natural gas imports.
Souring Relationship
The Western Canadian province of Alberta is the largest exporter of crude oil to the U.S. at about 4.3 million barrels per day. Alberta also exports huge amounts of natural gas to America. While the U.S. has been Canada’s traditional market for crude oil and natural gas, Canadians increasingly feel that the U.S. is no longer a reliable trade partner and neighbor.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said in announcing the election that, “We will act to unlock major infrastructure projects and get them moving rapidly including clean and conventional energy, critical minerals, and build new trade corridors with reliable trading partners.”
For its part, Canada’s Conservative Party has unveiled plans to resurrect a one million barrel per day oil pipeline that would run from Alberta to Canada’s Atlantic coast and eventually send energy products to European markets. Building a pipeline from Alberta to the Atlantic Ocean is expected to take at least three years, according to government estimates.
The latest polls show the Liberals and Conservatives in a statistical tie among decided Canadian voters with 39% support each. SHEL stock has risen 17% so far in 2025.
Is SHEL Stock a Buy?
The stock of European oil giant Shell has a consensus Strong Buy rating among 11 Wall Street analysts. That rating is based on 10 Buy and one Hold recommendations assigned in the past three months. The average SHEL price target of $78.23 implies 7.36% upside from current levels.
