The Financial Post reports in its Wednesday, Feb. 11, edition that with light oil imports falling to their lowest levels to date and heavy oil imports declining in North America's largest refining market, analysts say there is a growing opportunity for Canadian energy companies to ship more of their product to the U.S. Gulf Coast. The Post's Geoffrey Morgan writes that Washington-based Energy Information Administration said Tuesday that light, low-sulphur oil imports in the Gulf Coast had been "virtually eliminated" in recent years. The EIA released an analysis that showed imports of these light blends -- mostly from Africa -- had fallen from historic levels of 1.3 million barrels per day to less than 200,000 barrels per day. Wood Mackenzie analyst Afolabi Ogunnaike says there is an additional opportunity for Canadian heavy oil companies to increase their market share on the Gulf Coast because production from Mexico, Venezuela and Colombia is either in decline or producers there are shipping more of their product to China. "I see Canadian crude being able to replace some of the crude that's being pulled out toward Asia," says Mr. Ogunnaike. He says refiners prefer Canadian heavy oil to blends from Latin America because it is cheaper.