When the money was rolling in oil companies weren’t quite as concerned as they are now when it comes to finding new innovations to improve the bottom line. Mark Stanley with Themark Corporation says he used to have trouble just getting in the door a couple of years ago to try to sell oil executives […]
More study needed on chemical dispersants
A new commentary in Nature Reviews Microbiology by Samantha Joye of the University of Georgia and her colleagues argues for further in-depth assessments of the impacts of dispersants on microorganisms to guide their use in response to future oil spills. Chemical dispersants are widely used in emergency responses to oil spills in marine environments as […]
Comment: Fracking debate – for it
The fracking debate is being waged all over North America. The oil industry loves using the process to extract hard to get to oil. Those against it are afraid fracking is responsible for using too much water, for contaminating ground water and for causing earthquakes. This is the first of two letters to the Baltimore […]
Roland Hall found some interesting results in Alberta’s Oil Sands
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 […]
Will waterless hydraulic fracturing technique change the industry?
A waterless fracking company is having its innovative method put to work in Ohio’s Utica shale play. GasFrac Energy Services Inc. has started fracturing its first trial well in the Utica shale. Multiple oil and gas companies have ownership in the well and are waiting on the results . The Calgary headquartered company uses gelled […]
Comment: Fracking and water don’t mix
The recent “facts” on the dangers of fracking cannot be allowed to be glossed over by those with a financial interest in the production of LNG. Anyone who believes there is no risk to the water table and our drinking water must be living in la la land. The chemicals used contain volatile compounds such […]
Comment: Fracking has never contaminated drinking water
Claims that hydraulic fracturing has contaminated drinking water are not supported by the facts. In truth, provincial regulations and industry operating practices work to protect drinking water aquifers and surface water. Data collected by the BC Oil and Gas Commission, the provincial regulator, shows none of the approximately 9,000 wells hydraulically fractured in the province […]
Comment: Start asking the right questions
I am writing about the company Quicksilver making an application to the Canadian National Energy Board to export 20 million tones a year of liquefied natural gas from its Campbell River site. Our Mayor Walter Jakeway advises us to “watch, wait and wave the Campbell River flag” – mirroring what he said over a year ago: that […]
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 […]