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Oil and Gas Sector-Politics and Image

[ Andrew Forrest] A Mining Billionaire’s Case for Ditching Fossil Fuels – by Justin Worland (Time Magazine – February 25, 2025)

https://time.com/

It does not take long at lunch with Andrew Forrest for him to start seeming less like an Australian mining billionaire and more like a climate activist–meets–zealous prosecutor. His rugged features quickly appear not to reflect the arid expanse of Western Australia’s Pilbara region, home to the core operations of his $38 billion Fortescue iron-ore business.

Rather, they appear the result of a succession of high-stakes court battles. When we meet at a luxurious Paris brasserie, he speaks passionately about a client that he’s been representing for several years: the planet. His case? Corporate bosses must act now—and act fast—to tackle climate change, an argument he delivers with force and the unrivaled credibility that comes from decades in the carbon-spewing industry.

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Now is the time to unleash Canada’s enormous resource potential – by Eric Nuttall (Financial Post – February 6, 2025)

https://financialpost.com/

New pipelines are our ‘trump card,’ and, if given the necessary urgency, they could be built in a matter of years, not decades

There are countries who have successfully leveraged their resource wealth to enrich their citizens, and then there is Canada. Years of policies rooted in energy ignorance and centred around self-flagellation have made us poorer and vulnerable.

From cancelling new pipelines that would have diversified our customer base and shrunk our price discount, to abjectly denying the business case in coal-replacing LNG, we have chosen the path of servitude again and again. As bearer of the third largest oil reserves in the world, it didn’t have to be this way.

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Trump is firing up resource nationalism. But can Canada’s energy and mining sectors pivot away from the U.S.? – by Niall McGee, Emma Graney, Nicolas Van Praet and Brent Jang (Globe and Mail – February 6, 2025)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

The threat of U.S. tariffs is firing up a brand of Canadian resource nationalism not seen in decades, inspiring a rallying call for this country to build more of its own energy, power and mining infrastructure. But executing on that plan will be no easy feat.

U.S. President Donald Trump earlier this week backed off from immediately imposing tariffs on Canadian imports, but the risk remains high that he’ll follow through after a 30-day reprieve runs out. Amid this threat, Canada’s resource sector, most of which would be subject to a 10-per-cent tariff, is looking at diversifying away from the United States to insulate itself from more shocks that lie ahead.

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Eby’s new love for energy, mining doesn’t excuse past abuse of the sector – by Adam Pankratz (National Post – February 3, 2025)

https://nationalpost.com/

The B.C. government is looking to fast-track 10 major projects. Great, but where was this growth-friendly attitude five years ago?

One heartening development in President Donald Trump’s trade war with Canada is that the post-national identity peddled by our prime minister and his followers has been replaced with a hefty dose of red-blooded patriotism.

However, while this is a time to come together, it most definitely is not a time to let the people who led us into this precarious position off scot-free — people such as British Columbia Premier David Eby.

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Trump tariffs include 10% carve-out for Canadian gas, power, minerals – by Killian Staines, Daniel Weeks, Kip Keen, Zack Hale, and J Robinson (S&P Global – February 2, 2025)

https://www.spglobal.com/

US President Donald Trump on Feb. 1 followed through on a threat to hit the nation’s three largest trading partners with steep tariffs. Energy imports from Canada — including oil, natural gas, electricity, coal, uranium, and critical minerals — were singled out, however, to be taxed at a lower rate of 10%.

Outside of the energy exclusions, Trump’s executive orders imposed 25% across-the-board tariffs on imports from Canada and Mexico and a 10% tariff on imports from China. No energy-related exemptions were identified for Mexico or China. The new tariffs will take effect on Feb. 4.

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Canada should step up to help make America energy secure – by Diane Francis (Financial Post – January 22, 2025)

https://financialpost.com/

Two countries should work together to develop oil and natural gas assets as well as nuclear, hydroelectric and renewable energy

Donald Trump postponed his threatened 25 per cent tariff against Canada and other trading partners on inauguration day because of inflation fears. His scheme is designed to pay for deep tax cuts for Americans and their businesses but tariffs are always inflationary for consumers.

In 1971, President Richard Nixon discovered this after imposing a 10 per cent “import duty” on goods. It was scrapped just months later. “Imagine an American corn farmer having to pay 25 per cent more for his potash, or for fuel,” commented Gary Marr on CTV. He’s the CEO of the Canada West Foundation, a businessman, and a former politician. “That’s not what he signed up for.”

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Cutting off oil is Canada’s nuclear option. What would it mean if it happens? – by Evan Dyer (CBC News Politics – January 19, 2025)

https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/

Crude oil tariffs in response to Trump’s threats would cause pain on both sides

In Canada’s arsenal of possible responses to a Trump tariff, the nuclear option is the threat to withhold, reduce or place export tariffs on Canadian energy. Already, the mere suggestion of such a tactic has caused a split between the government of Alberta, on one side, and the governments of Canada and all other provinces on the other.

Tariffs on imports from the U.S. have the potential to cause pain to certain industries and regions, but Prime Minister Justin Trudeau himself has acknowledged that the effect of Canada’s import tariffs would be diluted by the size of the U.S. population and economy.

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Alberta steps in again to protect Canada from Steven Guilbeault – by Jamie Sarkonak (National Post – November 30, 2024)

https://nationalpost.com/

The Liberals were told to respect provincial jurisdiction, but their update to the federal environmental assessment regime doesn’t

On Thursday, the Alberta government announced that it has asked the Alberta Court of Appeal to provide an opinion on whether the newly amended federal Impact Assessment Act (IAA) is constitutional. The problem? The things that rendered much of the act unconstitutional, which had been pointed out by the Supreme Court last fall, were never addressed.

The flaw that tainted IAA 1.0 was one of jurisdictional blindness: the law didn’t keep the feds in their own lane, and instead gave Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault the ability to veto just about any infrastructure project he likes — even in-province pipelines and roads, as well as gravel pits and mines, which are all within provincial domain.

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Trump chooses oil fracking boss as energy secretary – by Ari Natter (Bloomberg News – November 16, 2024)

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

President-elect Donald Trump nominated Chris Wright, who runs a Colorado-based oil and natural gas fracking services company, to lead the Energy Department.

Wright, the chief executive officer of Liberty Energy Inc., has no previous Washington experience. He’s made a name for himself as a vocal proponent of oil and gas, saying fossil fuels are crucial for spreading prosperity and lifting people from poverty. The threat of global warming, he has said, is exaggerated.

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Trump victory good news for Canadian economy – by Diane Francis (Financial Post – November 13, 2024)

https://financialpost.com/

Trump is placing energy as a priority. This will automatically increase the size and importance of Western Canada’s oilpatch

Donald Trump’s landslide victory has shaken Canadians and rattled the loonie, but on balance will be beneficial for the country, notably its natural resource sectors.

Trump has promised to impose tariffs on trading partners, but Canada’s biggest exports will spared for two reasons. First, the countries’ resource sectors are integrated as a result of cross-ownership and mutual supply chains that have been built over decades. So are their automotive industries. These binational oil and auto partnerships are the cornerstone of both economies.

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Environmental NGOs love using First Nation land issues for profit – by Geoff Russ (National Post – November 5, 2024)

https://nationalpost.com/

Is there a natural resource project being built somewhere in Canada? Does it overlap with the title land, reserve lands, or other jurisdictions of a First Nation? If so, expect green NGOs to turn it into another dramatic episode so they can keep fundraising.

It has been 53 years since the infamous “Crying Indian” ad was released, but it still provides the template for how environmentalist NGOs co-opt and intrude into Indigenous affairs. Made by an American NGO called Keep America Beautiful, the ad showed a tear running down the face of a Native American, dressed like he was plucked from the set of a John Wayne movie.

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Trump return will slow, not stop, US clean energy boom – by Richard Valdmanis (Reuters – November 6, 2024)

https://www.reuters.com/

Donald Trump’s return to the White House will refocus the nation’s energy policy onto maximizing oil and gas production and away from fighting climate change, but the Republican win in Tuesday’s presidential elections is unlikely to dramatically slow the U.S. renewable energy boom.

That is because a Biden-era law providing a decade of lucrative subsidies for new solar, wind and other clean energy projects would be near-impossible to repeal, thanks to support from Republican states, while other levers available to the next president would only have marginal impact, analysts say.

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Even climate groups think Guilbeault’s emissions cap is dumb – by John Ivison (National Post – November 6, 2024)

https://nationalpost.com/

The existing plan he’s undermining would cut emissions by seven times what the environment minister is proposing

Steven Guilbeault has made clear that he plans to go out with bang, championing a record unsullied by compromise, pragmatism or achievement. The activist environment minister released the draft regulations for a cap on oil and gas emissions on Monday, under the cover of blanket U.S. election reporting.

The minister’s rationale is that regulation is needed because profits in the sector have soared. Alberta Premier Danielle Smith said Guilbeault has a “deranged vendetta against Alberta” and promised to fight the cap in court.

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Investing in oil and gas still important, IEA deputy head tells Calgary crowd – by Amanda Stephenson (Halifax City News – October 22, 2024)

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CALGARY — Investments in oil and gas production are important and must continue in tandem with increased investment in renewable and clean technologies, the deputy head of the International Energy Agency said Tuesday. Mary Burce Warlick made the comments in Calgary, the corporate heart of Canada’s oil and gas sector, just a week after the Paris-based IEA released its most recent forecast for global energy demand.

The IEA said in that forecast that demand for all three fossil fuels — coal, oil and gas — is set to peak by the end of this decade. It also predicted a potential oversupply of both oil and liquefied natural gas in the second half of the 2020s.

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B.C. is a burgeoning oil and gas powerhouse – by Geoff Russ (National Post – August 19, 2024)

https://nationalpost.com/

The LNG revolution will be a boon for the province and its First Nations

Outside of small pleasures and personal adventures, life in British Columbia has offered little that can be celebrated as of late. For proponents of Canadian energy, however, B.C.’s transformation into a major player in oil and gas has been a triumph.

No, vast quantities of fossil fuels are not being extracted from the ground like in Alberta, but the westernmost province has become the great bridge that connects Alberta’s oil and gas to global markets. Liquefied natural gas (LNG) facilities are springing up along B.C.’s coastline, driving technological innovation and unprecedented reconciliation with First Nations.

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