Summary
These regulations implement Part VI of the National Energy Board Act, requiring licenses and orders for oil and gas export/import activities. They mandate extensive application requirements including detailed supply/demand information, contracts, transportation arrangements, and environmental/social impact assessments. The Governor in Council must approve certain exports. The Board has inspection powers, can suspend/revoke orders, and must approve certain contracts. Various transactions are exempted (ethylene/propylene, propane/butanes/ethane, specific oil movements).
Reason
This regulation embodies central planning of voluntary cross-border trade, replacing market pricing with bureaucratic licensing. It imposes massive compliance costs through exhaustive data demands, contract approvals, and subjective government discretion, creating barriers to entry that protect incumbents and reduce competition. The requirement for Governor in Council approval and Board control over contract terms distorts investment signals, slows innovation, and creates rent-seeking opportunities. The claimed benefits—energy security, environmental oversight, fair pricing—are better achieved through property rights, liability rules, and market incentives. The unseen costs include suppressed deals, delayed projects, higher consumer prices, and lost economic dynamism. Free trade in oil and gas would unlock Canada's energy potential without requiring a regulatory regime that assumes bureaucrats can outguess dispersed market knowledge.