Canada's IEA Oil Promise Based on Natural Production Growth, Not New Output

The Canadian government's pledge to supply an extra 23.6 million barrels of oil in the coming months is based on natural growth in production, not a specific effort to increase crude output, according to BMO Capital Markets.

The promise made by Energy Minister Tim Hodgson last month was Canada's contribution to the 400 million barrels being released by 32 countries in the International Energy Agency. Unlike IEA members such as the US and Japan, Canada holds no strategic petroleum reserves.

Randy Ollenberger, head of oil and gas research at BMO Capital Markets, said 'it's not really a function of what's happening in Iran or any request from the federal government to say, what can we contribute to this.'