Alberta premier weighs in on EU plans for oilsands ranking

Alberta Premier Alison Redford says shedoes not want to seethe European Union label oil from Alberta's oilsands as dirty.

The EU is drafting a fuel-quality directive (FQD), which refers to the oilsands as producing oil that isharmful to the environment.

Redford says both her government and the federal government have taken the message to Europe that Alberta's oil is not as carbon intensive as what is produced in most other places.

"We're very confident about the fact that we're transparent with respect to our production [and]that our statistics are out in the open," said Redford. "We think it's important to be able to compare our productivity statistics and our environmental impact statistics to other suppliers.

"That's been our message to Europe and it's really been resonating, so we'll keep delivering that message."

Redford says her focus is finding more markets for Alberta's oil and gas. Not much oilsands production goes to Europe but some makes it there after being passed through American refineries.

Federal minister lobbies in Europe

Member countries were supposed to voteon its controversial directive last year, butdelayed thevote to gather more evidenceabout the oilsands.

The FQD is intended to help EU member countries hit greenhouse gas targets by assigning values to fuel feedstocks. For instance, oilsands oil gets a higher value than traditional crude oil because it uses more energy to extract and refine.

The directivewould then make Alberta's main export more expensive for European customers. The EU thinksit would encourage the use of cleaner fuel.

Federal Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliverwas in Europe this weekto lobby against any negative designations for Alberta oil, which the government says discriminates unfairly against Alberta bitumen.

The federal government has saidCanada might take the matterto the World Trade Organization if the directive is imposed.