Calling the Prime Minister "Governor" and renaming a lake are kinda funny, but if you really want to troll Canada, the best way is to secure billions of barrels of identical heavy grade sour crude from a competing source. 👍 pic.twitter.com/KV9d3R2ptR
— Bronson (@AdeDetective) August 29, 2026
Per Grok:
Density (API gravity): Raw Canadian oil-sands bitumen (Athabasca) is typically ~8° API. Venezuelan Orinoco Belt extra-heavy crude is often in a comparable 8–10° range in the reservoir. Marketed blends are also close: Western Canadian Select (WCS, a diluted bitumen blend) is around 20–21° API, while Venezuelan grades like Merey 16 are ~16°, Hamaca ~17°, and Boscan ~10°.
visualcapitalist.com
Sulfur content: Both are sour. WCS is typically ~3–3.5% (sometimes higher); Venezuelan heavy grades often range ~1.5–3.4% (e.g., Merey ~2.5–3.4%).
discoveryalert.com.au
Other properties: High viscosity (requiring dilution or heating for transport), elevated asphaltenes/residues, and suitability for complex refining (coking, hydrocracking). US Gulf Coast refineries historically treated them as largely interchangeable feedstocks.
media.marketnews.com
Experts, including chemical engineers with experience in both regions, have described the bitumen/extra-heavy oils as “identical” or “exactly equal” in many respects (e.g., Alberta bitumen vs. Venezuelan Cerro Negro).
cbc.ca
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