The Alberta Energy and Utilities Board said it is in a state of heightened awareness following a Web posting by a Saudi wing of al Qaeda, which called for attacks on oil suppliers to the United States.
"Given the nature of the threat, there is really no direct evidence that Alberta infrastructure is being targeted and clearly, the information we get from intelligence agencies is what we base our decisions on," board spokesman Darin Barter said.
Canada is the largest oil and gas supplier to the United States, shipping well over half its daily production of about 2.5 million barrels of oil across its southern border via pipeline. Alberta, with its huge oil sands resources, is the country's biggest producing province.
The threat appeared in the Arabian Peninsula's e-magazine Sawt al-Jihad (Voice of Holy War), which was posted on a Web site used by Islamist militants. It also pointed to Venezuela and Mexico as big oil suppliers to the United States.
Barter said Canada's oil industry instituted stringent security measures after the September 11, 2001, attacks on U.S. targets, and that involves coordination with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS).
No one in the offices of Canada's prime minister or natural resources minister was available for comment. A spokesman for Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day said he would not be commenting, while CSIS did not respond to a call seeking reaction.
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