John Kirton, a University of Toronto political science professor who maintains a web site that tracks G8 summits and meetings, said the tone of the sessions will be to forge preventive measures to protect energy security.
It is only the third gathering of energy ministers of the former G7.
"It's more crisis prevention," Kirton said Friday.
The meeting is co-hosted by U.S. energy secretary Spencer Abraham and Canadian natural resources minister Herb Dhaliwal.
Ministerial sessions will be accompanied by forums on various energy issues ranging from alternative fuel for vehicles to global energy security. The sessions will be hosted by the U.S. Energy Association, which represents a wide spectrum of companies and industries in the energy field.
The G8 ministers will meet privately during one session, then issue a communique. The meetings go from May 1 to 3 at the Marriott Hotel.
Tracy Thiessen, a spokeswoman for Natural Resources Canada, said Canada is interested in expanding global energy markets.
"We have much to gain. Canada is a net energy exporter. (Dhaliwal) wants to see Canadians look at exporting markets," she said.
The Detroit meeting is a lead-up to a full G8 leadership summit June 26 and 27 in Kananaskis, Alta. Kirton said under normal circumstances this meeting would have been held in Canada.
He speculated Detroit was chosen because Abraham's political roots are there and because Canada is trying to gain U.S. support in certain policy areas.
"This is clearly something we gave to the Americans," said Kirton, director of the G8 Research Group based in Toronto.
For example, all other G8 ministers have had sessions scheduled in various Canadian cities leading up to June.
He said it is likely the G8 energy ministers will deal with the issue of global energy supply, violence in the Mideast, Iraq's decision to halt oil exports temporarily because of U.S. policies in the region and political instability in Venezuela, a major oil producer, make Canada an important North American energy source.
Kirton said Canada will continue to oppose the U.S. plan to drill for oil in the fragile Alaskan wilderness and will try to convince the Americans that this country can be a vital source of energy.
Canada has huge untapped oil resources in Alberta.
"All we need is a little bit of time and money," Kirton said.
He also said that recently, G8 meetings and summits have produced more commitments to actions and compliance with these commitments is increasing.
Detroit police and other U.S. officials declined to discuss security arrangements for the sessions.
FAIR USE NOTICE: This page contains copyrighted material the use of which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. NoNonsense English offers this material non-commercially for research and educational purposes. I believe this constitutes a fair use of any such copyrighted material as provided for in 17 U.S.C § 107. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond fair use, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner, i.e. the media service or newspaper which first published the article online and which is indicated at the top of the article unless otherwise specified.