Ottawa fights EU plan to label Canadian oil as dirty

An EU plan to label crude from the Alberta oil sands as dirty is unfair and could damage Canada’s bid to find new export markets, the Canadian resources minister said at the start of a mission to lobby against the idea.

As part of a plan to cut greenhouse gases from transport fuel, the EU’s executive commission has developed a Fuel Quality Directive that would single out oil from Alberta’s tar sands as more polluting than conventional crude.

Canada, whose oil sands are the world’s third-largest proven reserves of crude, strongly opposes the move. natural resources minister Joe Oliver, speaking at the start of a week-long trip to Paris, Brussels and London, said the directive should be changed to ensure it does not discriminate against crude from the oil sands.