Last week's downing of the Malaysian Airlines aircraft in eastern Ukraine and the potential imposition by the European Union of more stringent economic sanctions against Russia could open a door in Europe for western Canadian crude oil, says an Ontario political scientist.

TransCanada Corporation's proposed Energy East pipeline, currently designed to provide 1.1 million bbls per day of capacity from Western Canada to Montreal and then to Saint John, N.B., would be the logical route to deliver that oil because it would provide the most direct access to Europe, according to Lam, who has a doctorate in political science from Carleton University in Ottawa. Initially, 400,000 bbls per day would be available for export and that could be increased by another 1.1 million bbls per day if the line were to be twinned, he suggested.

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