Canada exports much of its oil to the U.S. Increasing production to five million barrels a day would be enough to satisfy a quarter of U.S. consumption and almost half its total imports.

However, such a massive production increase would require new refineries and pipelines to transport the crude from the oilsands as far as California and Texas, according to the document.

With a half-dozen new or expanded oilsands plants coming onstream in the next 10 years, there has been a push for increased pipeline capacity.

Two major energy companies that ship bitumen to the U.S. have recently announced plans for increasing the flow.

BP PLC announced in September it will spend $3 billion US to retrofit its Whiting refinery near Chicago to become a primary processor of heavy Canadian oilsands crude.

EnCana Corp. also announced a $15-billion deal last fall with ConocoPhillips to ship Alberta bitumen to the U.S. ConocoPhillips is preparing to retrofit its refinery in Billings, Mont., to process it.

In addition, TransCanada Corp.’s plans to spend more than $2 billion US to convert some of its main natural gas pipeline to handle 435,000 barrels of bitumen per day, and Enbridge Inc. is planning to spend $140 million US to expand one of its Alberta pipelines to ship 450,000 barrels of bitumen per day.

However, the Alberta government appears to be conflicted on the issue of shipping raw bitumen into the U.S. for upgrading and refining.

Energy Minister Mel Knight says he’s not uncomfortable with large volumes of bitumen — the tarry product mined from the northern oilsands — being exported, even though it means considerable value is being added to the product outside the province.

The message seems to differ somewhat from what Ed Stelmach said last month after he won the Alberta Tory leadership race. The new premier told reporters then that he wants more of the oilsands production to be processed in Alberta.