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OTTAWA — Canada’s oil and gas producers are struggling to stay competitive with their U.S. counterparts because of the struggle to expand pipeline capacity, says a new report from the C.D. Howe Institute.

The analysis by associate director of research Benjamin Dachis is the first in what he says will become an annual comparison of Canada’s oil and gas sector with its North American equivalents.

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The report comes just days before the federal government is expected to unveil how it plans to overhaul the environmental and regulatory review process for major energy projects.

Industry expects that overhaul to be the make-or-break plan for future pipeline projects, and Dachis says the lack of pipelines to transport oil and gas to market remains the biggest factor affecting the industry’s competitiveness with the U.S.

“If Canadian governments allowed pipelines to be built expeditiously, the competitiveness of western Canadian oil producers would be greatly improved,” he wrote.