Gulf News reported that Mr Stephen Harper PM of Canada may still be smarting from Canada's failed bid to ramp up oil exports to the United States but his plan B could prove to be even tougher.

Mr Harper heads across the Pacific this week in a bid to convince China to satisfy its growing energy appetite with Canada's vast oil reserves. Though it appears a classic supply demand match on the surface, the plan faces hurdles that range from how long it will take to build the pipeline to environmental dangers and questions about China's human rights record.

China imports no oil from Canada at present, and the infrastructure is not in place in Canada to get the crude from the massive tar sands of Alberta to the Pacific coast, forcing a long term view of a partnership.

Mr Gordon Houlden former Canadian diplomat with extensive Chinese experience who heads the University of Alberta's China Institute said that "China as an energy market directly for the delivery of Canadian oil is medium to long term. Five years is too short, 10 years is perhaps doable."

The most obvious supply route for crude headed to China is pipeline operator Enbridge Inc's proposed 1,177 kilometer Northern Gateway pipeline from the northern Alberta oil sands to Kitimat on the British Columbia coast, which is strongly opposed by greens and some aboriginal bands.

Regulatory hearings into the pipeline opened last month and could drag on for years after which the project looks set to meander through Canada's slow paced court system.

Mr Yuen Pau Woo president of the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada said that "The challenge of exporting energy from Canada to China is a domestic challenge so I would not place any false hopes on the China visit with respect to a breakthrough on the energy file."

(Sourced from Gulf News)