Consider the challenges facing the oil industry this year – rock bottom prices, drought (water shortages), greenhouse gas legislation, new rules regarding First Nations and the stalling of major pipelines – Keystone XL, Northern Gateway to name just two. This was the comment Bryan Helfenbaum started of the session he was moderating at the World […]
Taking a step
A group of oil sands companies has set its first environmental performance target by limiting the use of fresh water in oil production, but goals for cutting greenhouse gas emissions have proven much more complicated. Members of the Canadian Oil Sands Innovation Alliance — an organization through which 13 oil sands players aim to make […]
How is innovation pipeline changing the way the oil industry operates?
Whether you call it oil money, or the more recent term petro-dollars, the hydrocarbon sector has long been a by-word for wealth. Countries with oil revenues are rich, and oil and gas companies have resources aplenty. It’s easy to assume, they can find the funds to do pretty much whatever they like. In the dream […]
GE challenge to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in oil sands
Media release from GE: GE announced the launch of an up to $1-million ecomagination open innovation challenge to help accelerate technology development in Canada’s oil sands. The Innovation Challenge will target two of the biggest opportunities to reduce green-house gas (GHG) emissions in the oil sands: new uses for waste heat and improved efficiency of […]
Comment: Time to invest in better protections for Canada’s intellectual property
Recently in Report on Business, General Electric Co. CEO Jeffrey Immelt outlined his company’s ambitious plan to enter the Canadian energy marketplace and make the oil sands globally competitive in terms of greenhouse gas emissions. He even suggested his company could take a co-operative approach to the management of their intellectual property rights (IPR) and […]
Oil industry taking steps towards reducing environmental impact
GE and Suncor Energy have agreed to spend upwards of $18-million on technology to cut greenhouse gas emissions and water use in the oil sands. They are not the only two companies involved. Others are members of Canada’s Oil Sands Innovation Alliance, an environmental technology sharing initiative. One deal would see a pilot […]