The oil pipeline leak that fouled a stretch of California coastline this week reflects a troubling trend in the nation’s infrastructure: As U.S. oil production has soared, so has the number of pipeline accidents. Since 2009, the annual number of significant accidents on oil and petroleum pipelines has shot up by almost 60 percent, roughly […]
Oil industry going to court to fight for its rights
America’s largest energy trade association is suing the US government, contending its timeline for upgrading oil tank cars for freight trains isn’t realistic and, in some cases, too expensive. In its suit filed on May 11 in the US District Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, the American Petroleum Institute (API) asked the […]
Comment: Why oil prices are down
A historic change of roles is at the heart of the clamour and turmoil over the collapse of oil prices, which have plummeted by 50 per cent since September 2014. For decades, Saudi Arabia, backed by the Persian Gulf emirates, was described as the “swing producer.” With its immense production capacity, it could raise or […]
Comment: Three Pinocchios – not a fairytale
Over the past months and right after the Senate defeated legislation authorizing the Keystone XL pipeline, President Obama said the pipeline was just to move Canadian oil through the US to the Gulf Coast for shipment overseas. He has also said he is concerned about its environmental impacts and the small number of jobs that […]
Single hull oil tankers banned from U.S. waters
It’s only been a quarter of a century since the United States passed it’s Oil Pollution Act. A year after the 1989 Exxon Valdez environmental disaster off the coast of Alaska, American politicians wrote a law requiring all new tankers need to have double hulls to prevent similar catastrophes. But single hull tankers were still […]
New regulations on the way for energy and mining companies
Canada’s Natural Resources Minister vowed to introduce legislation requiring energy and mining companies to report all revenue paid to foreign and domestic governments, but Greg Rickford said its impact on corporate payments made to First Nations will be delayed for two years while Ottawa consults aboriginal leaders. At a meeting in Sudbury, Ontario in August, […]
Comment: Pick your choice for crude transport – pipeline, train, truck or ship
Crude oil is moving around the world, around North America, around pristine wilderness, around our cities and towns. It’s going to keep moving, so what is the safest way to move it? The short answer is: truck worse than train worse than pipeline worse than boat (Oilprice.com). But that’s only for human death and property […]