Will Iran deal kill Energy East project?

Re Iran nuclear deal a historic triumph, Letters

July 20 Aside from a historic triumph, the nuclear deal with Iran drives the last nail into the coffin of the proposed $12 billion Energy East project, intended to sell to Europe oil from the oilsands of Alberta.

It’s a plan to deliver the world’s most costly oil across a continent and an ocean to a buyers’ market, where demand for oil is diminishing in the face of efforts to curb global warming.

Freed from sanctions, Iran desperately wants to sell oil to bolster its sagging economy. That’s why it agreed to the nuclear accord.

In terms of estimated remaining, proven discovered reserves of oil, Canada and Iran rank number three and four in the world, with about 175 billion barrels in Canada and 150 billion in Iran. The difference is that our oil is about the world’s most costly; Iran’s is among the cheapest. Iran has more low-cost oil than any other country except Saudi Arabia. It can supply Europe with oil that costs a small fraction of oilsands oil.

Two years ago, when the Energy East proposal was first announced, I expressed skepticism in a Toronto Star Opinion page piece (“Chilly Arctic history bodes ill for Energy East,” Aug. 20) that it would ever be built.

The odds against Energy East lengthened with last year’s sharp drop in oil prices. The nuclear accord with Iran is the final blow. Energy East is dead. It awaits only a decent burial. Earle Gray, Lindsay