Prime Minister Stephen Harper has been talking up the Canadian energy industry as he makes his first major appearance as an international leader.

At the G8 summit in St. Petersburg, Russia, Harper met first with his host, Russian President Vladimir Putin, and the two men discussed plans for a big joint venture that could see Russian natural gas flowing to North American markets through a pipeline in Montreal.

Prime Minister Stephen and Russian President Vladimir Putin discussed plans for a scheme which could see Russian natural gas flowing to North American markets through a pipeline in Montreal.
(Charles Dharapak/Associated Press)

Petro Canada is currently seeking approval for a project in Quebec with the Russian energy giant Gazprom. Putin and Harper released a statement praising such projects and calling for more of them.

"We welcome close co-operation between Canadian and Russian energy industry players and we will work to facilitate these relationships with a view to promoting international trade, particularly in the area of liquid natural gas," the statement said.

Canada's Ambassador to Russia, Christopher Westdal, said the statement showed that both countries were supporting the proposal, as were the public and officials in Canada. 

"It looks like it will go through," he said.

Energy security is one of Putin's chosen themes for the St. Petersburg summit.  Canada wants more business for its energy industry, as well access to Russian reserves and markets. 

On his way to St. Petersburg, Harper made a speech in London calling for open energy markets and describing Canada as an emerging "energy superpower."  He said Canada's petroleum reserves and its regulatory and legal environment make it the most attractive foreign investment opportunity in the world.

Canada, he said, believes in "a free exchange of energy products based on competition — not self-serving monopolistic political strategies,"  a phrase seen as a veiled criticism of Russia's state-dominated energy sector.

Putin has been criticized recently for his insistence on state control of Russia's vast petroleum reserves and pipeline network.  In January, he ordered a brief cut in supplies of Russian gas to Ukraine in a dispute over pricing that many saw as an assertion that energy supplies could be used to assert political control over neighbouring states.