We live in very uncertain times, and due to the fracking revolution, the US has become virtually self-sufficient in the production of crude oil.

Nonetheless, as Stefanie Moron points out in a recent National Bank Web post, Canada still provides close to 90% of the US net imports of crude oil.

Unfortunately, from a Canadian perspective, the country’s crude oil shipments are effectively sold at a discounted price compared to world prices. The discount is mainly due to a lack of pipeline capacity to move Canadian oil to markets. But, also contributing to the discount is the shift towards Canada’s oil sands and a reduction in demand due to U.S. refinery issues.

However, recently the international oil market encountered a new level of supply uncertainty.

The recent drone and missile attacks on Saudi Arabia’s oil-producing facilities illustrated a new level of riskiness for importing countries depending on Saudi Arabia, which happens to be the world's largest exporter of oil. The drone attacks affected up to one-half of the supplies of the Saudi oil, even though the output was quickly restored.

Obviously, given Canada’s reputation and proximity to the US, this suggests that even in a declining world market for oil, Canada is still well situated to be a preferred producer and a reliable supplier of crude oil to the US.