Johnston said it's unclear whether a European player would want to commit to a project that would take tens of billions of dollars to build and take years to complete.

He said Asia remains the more promising avenue for Canada to diversify its exports.

"We do have existing oil and gas infrastructure and exports to Asia.

There's more coming, and the demand signal in Asia is much more clear," he said.

Both Europe and Asia want to find more reliable sources to meet their....