Canada’s oil sands industry faces an equal risk from its reputation as an environmental laggard as from high operating costs, industry observers said. The failure to win approval for pipelines like TransCanada Corp.’s Keystone XL and Enbridge Inc.’s Northern Gateway is tied to concerns about carbon emissions with oil production, Ed Whittingham, executive director of […]
Comment: CAPP has warning for politicians in race to form next government in Alberta
These are volatile times for the oil and natural gas industry. The impact on Albertans has been hard as thousands of jobs have been cut. Drilling and service rigs are idle. Tools are down in machine shops. More office spaces are empty. Restaurants are quieter. Economic activity across Alberta is slowing as uncertainty clouds the […]
2015 a “Perfect Storm” for oil industry
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 […]
Comment: Pipelines vs rail cars
The fiery derailment of two trains carrying crude oil in the space of three days underscores the worrisome impact of such incidents. Images of huge fireballs from the crash of an oil train in West Virginia will have brought back memories for many Canadians of the Lac-Megantic disaster where 47 people died. Two days before the West […]
Comment: Poll results few oil execs will be pleased with
Alberta Oil magazine has published its National Survey on Energy Literacy, the culmination of 1,396 online interviews of a representative sample of Canadians conducted by Leger. The results are particularly interesting coming from Alberta Oil, a magazine destined for the desks of the energy sector’s senior executives and decision-makers. There are quite a few nuggets […]
Comment: Compromise needed on Keystone XL
In mid November by a margin of one vote, the U.S. Senate rejected a bill to allow the Keystone XL pipeline to cross the Canada-U.S. border and bring tar sands oil in Canada to refineries in Texas. I am an environmentalist and firmly believe that this is the wrong decision. I do not believe this because […]
List of Canadian pipelines on hold
Mounting opposition from environmentalists have delayed a number of oil industry projects, here are the top four. 1) Keystone XL Keystone XL is a proposed 1,897-kilometre pipeline that would carry crude oil from Hardisty, Alta., to Steele City, Neb., where it would link up with other pipelines that run to the Gulf Coast and the […]
Pipeline gets approval – with conditions attached
With Keystone XL, Northern Gateway and Energy East pipelines stalled at the gate, the Alberta Energy Regulator has given a tentative stamp of approval to the $3-billion Grand Rapids oil pipeline. Along with the “OK” comes 26 conditions. Considerably less than the more than 200 needed before the Northern Gateway can proceed. The pipeline in […]
Comment: Train riskier than pipeline for oil
People who are adamantly protesting the Northern Gateway pipeline’s tentative approval seem to forget one very important thing. Both the Canadian National and the Canadian Pacific Railways are ready to use “unit trains,” similar to the coal trains that rumble along to the Roberts Bank super port, but instead of coal, the trains will be […]
Comment: Northern Gateway exposes Canada’s fractures
In late June, the federal government announced Enbridge’s $7.9-billion Northern Gateway Pipeline can proceed if it meets the National Energy Board’s 209 conditions. That’s indicative of a multiplicity of concerns around a project that includes a 1,200-kilometre pipeline that would traverse some of the most wild and spectacular terrain in Canada, and the shipping of […]
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