Ordinary folks may think the Kitimat oil port and twin pipeline to Alberta remains uncertain because the joint review panel appointed by the Harper Government’s National Energy Board called for more information. However, we can be certain the process is already decided. People in the real world do not wager billions of dollars on uncertainty. The oil and gas industry is acting as if the decision is already made. Evidence?

BEIJING, FEB 9 – Chinese oil giant PetroChina will invest Can$5.4 billion to acquire a 50 percent stake in a shale gas project developed in Canada by Encana, North America’s top gas producer, the firms said Thursday.

The $5.43-billion deal is the latest investment by China’s top oil producer in Canada as the energy-guzzling nation scours the world for natural resources needed to fuel its fast-growing economy.

Under the agreement, PetroChina and Encana would jointly develop the Cutbank Ridge fields in British Columbia and Alberta, a 256,975-hectare (635,000-acre) site . . .

PetroChina has made major investments in Canadian natural resources before, having taken a $1.7 billion stake in 2009 in two projects to exploit oil sands with the Canadian company Athabasca Oil Sands. Chinese firms have pumped billions of dollars into the Alberta oil sands region in western Canada . .

You can be certain that PetroChina has not invested billions in BC and Alberta energy production without confidence that petroleum products can be shipped to energy hungry China.