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Backers of the proposed Energy East oil pipeline said too much Canadian capital is flowing out of the country to purchase foreign oil, when it should be benefitting economies across the country.

Refineries in Eastern Canada are spending billions to purchase about 700,000 barrels a day of foreign oil to meet customer needs, while Western Canadian oil is sold to the United States at a discount due to lack of pipeline capacity between producing fields in Western Canada and refineries in the East, said Ian Whitcomb, president of Irving Oil Ltd.

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“This is a really important project for Canada,” he said in a meeting with the Financial Post’s editorial board Tuesday on the sidelines of an investment symposium organized by the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers. “We are spending so much Canadian capital to buy oil outside of Canada and those dollars should stay inside.”

Irving Oil, based in Saint John, N.B., runs Canada’s largest oil refinery. It processes about 320,000 barrels a day, including a third imported from Saudi Arabia, a third imported from the U.S., and the rest shipped by rail from Western Canada or elsewhere.