Oil and Gas Sector-Politics and Image – Page 132

New Keystone route aims to avoid environmentally fragile areas – by Shawn McCarthy (Globe and Mail – April 20, 2012)

April 20, 2012

The Globe and Mail is Canada’s national newspaper with the second largest broadsheet circulation in the country. It has enormous influence on Canada’s political and business elite.

Ottawa – TransCanada Corp. (TRP-T42.91—-%)plans a 32-kilometre detour – at no extra cost – for its long-delayed Keystone XL pipeline, and hopes the change will be sufficient to win approval from the U.S. State Department.

In a filing with the government of Nebraska, the Calgary-based pipeline company said the new route should allay concerns that the pipeline will threaten the state’s Sandhills region, considered a fragile environmental zone.

“The primary goal of the Nebraska reroute effort is to avoid the area defined by the [state’s Department of Environmental Quality] as the Sandhills region,” the report says.

In December, the Nebraska environment department provided TransCanada with a map that identified the extent of Sandhills region, saying the company needed to know what area to avoid.

A regulatory burden lifted but opposition remains – by Gary Mason (Globe and Mail – April 19, 2012)

April 19, 2012

The Globe and Mail is Canada’s national newspaper with the second largest broadsheet circulation in the country. It has enormous influence on Canada’s political and business elite.

Governing is so much more fun with a majority, as Prime Minister Stephen Harper reminds us every day. Opposition parties can yell and scream all they want, but the Conservatives don’t have to listen. They can kill the long-gun registry and bring in an omnibus crime bill and simply plug their ears when Liberals and New Democrats get up in the House of Commons to complain.

The latest move by the federal government to upset the Opposition is a plan to streamline – some would say neuter – the environmental assessment process. The Conservatives have been telegraphing this one for a while.

Mr. Harper has staked the economic future of the country on the resource riches of The West, and why not? In particular, the Prime Minister is focused on helping Alberta get its crude to market as quickly as possible. Future federal budget surpluses depend on it.

In the Prime Minister’s home province of Alberta, they still talk about the Mackenzie Valley gas pipeline project, which ultimately died, in part because of a burdensome regulatory assessment process that dragged on for years.

Argentina’s expropriation of energy company only isolates country – Globe and Mail Editorial (April 19, 2012)

April 19, 2012

The Globe and Mail is Canada’s national newspaper with the second largest broadsheet circulation in the country. It has enormous influence on Canada’s political and business elite.

The decision by Argentina’s President to nationalize the country’s largest energy company may pander to popular sentiment at home, but will only further isolate the country internationally.

President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner announced the expropriation of 51 per cent of Yacimientos Petroliferos Fiscales to a cheering audience on live television on Monday.

This is a losing cause – just as is Argentina’s claim for sovereignty of the British-controlled Falkland Islands.

The country already has a weak standing in world financial markets, following its failure to repay all of its loans after defaulting on a $100-billion debt in 2001. The latest move will cause more uncertainty and make it more difficult to attract the kind of foreign investment and expert partners needed to develop Argentina’s reserves of shale hydrocarbons.

Ottawa needs to reassure Canadians that its new environmental review policies are sound – Toronto Star Editorial (April 19, 2012)

April 19, 2012

The Toronto Star, has the largest circulation in Canada. The paper has an enormous impact on federal and Ontario politics as well as shaping public opinion.

If Canadians could trust Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s government to manage both our oil- and mineral-rich economy and the environment that surrounds it, it would be easy to welcome Ottawa’s plan for simpler, faster and more coherent environmental assessments. The current system is undeniably flawed.

But given Harper’s past hostility to green causes, it’s only natural to question his motives and worry about the impact of his reforms.

It’s easy to illustrate how the system falls down now. Even picayune projects need assessments, like adding more office space inside a federal building, replacing an old military generator, or washing fruit on a blueberry farm.

Meanwhile, federal assessments for major work can take years to launch, and years to finish. One Alberta oil sands project took almost six years before approval was granted. Uncertainty and delays on this scale could discourage investors and sacrifice Canadian jobs at a time when we can’t afford to lose either.

Despite hyperbole, environmental fast-tracking won’t give ‘big oil’ a ‘free pass’ – by John Ivison (National Post – April 18, 2012)

April 18, 2012

The National Post is Canada’s second largest national paper.

Joe Oliver sounded like Robin Williams in the Dead Poets Society, as he urged Canadians to carpe diem — seize the day.

The Natural Resources Minister was visiting an engineering company in Toronto to highlight new legislation aimed at streamlining regulatory reviews on big energy projects, first revealed in the March budget.

“We are at a critical juncture. The global economy has presented Canada with an historic opportunity….We must seize the moment if we want to tap into the tremendous appetite for resources in dynamic, emerging economies.” To hear Mr. Oliver tell it, the problem of getting oil-sands crude to markets in Asia will be solved by his bill, which he claims will yield “timely, effective and efficient project reviews.”

The goal is to reduce to 24 months environmental reviews of major projects like the Northern Gateway pipeline from the oil sands to the B.C. coast. Mr. Oliver pointed out that some mine applications have taken up to six years before winning approval. “What kind of message does that send to investors?” he asked.

Ottawa elbows regulators in quest for final word on pipeline approvals – by Shawn McCarthy (Globe and Mail – April 18, 2012)

April 18, 2012

The Globe and Mail is Canada’s national newspaper with the second largest broadsheet circulation in the country. It has enormous influence on Canada’s political and business elite.

The federal government is asserting its control over pipelines – including the proposed Northern Gateway oil-sands project – taking from regulators the final word on approvals and limiting the ability of opponents to intervene in environmental assessments.

In proposed legislation unveiled by Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver on Tuesday, the Harper government will clear away regulatory hurdles to the rapid development of Canada’s natural resource bounty.

Ottawa is aiming to reduce the number of projects that undergo federal environmental assessment by exempting smaller developments completely and by handing over many large ones to the provinces. It will also bring in new measures to prevent project opponents from delaying the assessment process by flooding hearings with individuals who face no direct impacts but want to speak against the development.

What if the U.S. becomes an oil exporter? – by Jeffrey Simpson (Globe and Mail – April 18, 2012)

April 18, 2012

The Globe and Mail is Canada’s national newspaper with the second largest broadsheet circulation in the country. It has enormous influence on Canada’s political and business elite.

Since the middle of the last century, the United States has been a net importer of oil (and not many years ago, it imported about two-thirds of its yearly consumption). The assumption of continued U.S. dependence on “foreign” oil provided one foundation stone for future Canadian prosperity. Canada, a self-described “energy superpower,” would always be able to send ever-larger quantities of oil to slake our neighbour’s insatiable thirst.

But what if the U.S. becomes an oil exporter, no longer needing anyone else’s oil? The change – or threat, if you prefer – for Canada would be immense. Indeed, it’s not too far-fetched to say that all the assumptions on which Canada has based its fossil-fuel industries can no longer be taken as axiomatically correct.

For the bitumen oil in Alberta, the future could be particularly murky. The oil resources there are immense, but finding markets for that oil might be very hard, indeed. Not only might the U.S. need less and less, but opposition to pipelines through British Columbia to ship oil to Asia is so intense that no guarantee exists they’ll be built for a very long time, if ever.

Argentina’s move to take control of YPF could jeopardize foreign investment – by Shawn McCarthy (Globe and Mail – April 17, 2012)

April 18, 2012

The Globe and Mail is Canada’s national newspaper with the second largest broadsheet circulation in the country. It has enormous influence on Canada’s political and business elite.

OTTAWA — Argentina is planning to nationalize control of the country’s largest oil company, a move that could discourage foreign investors in one of the world’s hottest emerging oil and gas plays.

President Cristina Fernandez on Monday sent a bill to the country’s Congress to expropriate 51 per cent of the shares of YPF, the Argentine subsidiary of Spain’s Repsol, complaining the company is failing to meet its investment obligations in the country.

The move has heightened concern among investors in companies exploring for oil and gas in the country – including several Canadian plays.

In addition to U.S. giants such as Exxon Mobil Corp. and Apache Corp., (APA-N94.552.282.47%) Calgary-based companies that have properties in the South American country include Americas Petrogas Inc., (BOE-X2.38-0.46-16.20%) Gran Tierra Energy Inc., (GTE-T6.24-0.05-0.79%) and ArPetrol Ltd. (RPT-X0.05-0.005-9.09%)

Ottawa to unveil sweeping changes to [resource development] environmental oversight – by Shawn McCarthy and John Ibbitson (Globe and Mail – April 17, 2012)

April 17, 2012

The Globe and Mail is Canada’s national newspaper with the second largest broadsheet circulation in the country. It has enormous influence on Canada’s political and business elite.

OTTAWA – The Harper government is about to dramatically shrink the federal oversight of proposed natural resource developments, handing over environmental reviews for many projects to the provinces and cutting back the number of smaller construction projects that are subject to any environmental assessment.

Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver is expected to unveil a sweeping legislative plan on Tuesday that will focus Ottawa’s role in environmental assessments to projects it deems to be of national significance.

Since taking office as a rookie minister last summer, Mr. Oliver has promised to streamline and overhaul Ottawa’s environmental assessment process, which the government insists is too cumbersome, duplicative and subject to tactical delaying efforts by environmental groups who are determined to block development.

Russians follow Chinese into Canada’s oil patch – by Claudia Cattaneo (National Post – April 17, 2012)

April 17, 2012

The National Post is Canada’s second largest national paper.

Another superpower, Russia, has bought a piece of Canada’s oil patch, making Alberta the meeting point for all the world’s top power brokers and the focus of a new oil age based on technological advancements.

Russia’s largest oil firm, Rosneft, purchased a stake in the hot Cardium tight oil play as part of a landmark alliance with Exxon Mobil Corp. announced Monday.

The Russian giant joins China’s top oil companies, the top U.S. oil companies and the top European oil companies in establishing a Canadian presence. All are producing or learning to produce oil and gas from technologically challenging unconventional plays — from tight oil, to shale gas, to the oil sands.

Under the deal, RN Cardium Oil Inc., a Rosneft subsidiary, is acquiring 30% of Exxon Mobil’s stake in the Harmattan acreage. Exxon Mobil holds 56,000 acres in the play, which is operated by its Canadian affiliate, Imperial Oil Ltd. Rosneft subsidiaries also gained 30% stakes in ExxonMobil projects in West Texas and the U.S. Gulf of Mexico.

Innovate or die: How Canada is courting long-term failure [with resource development] – by Richard Poplak (Globe and Mail – April 14, 2012)

April 16, 2012

The Globe and Mail is Canada’s national newspaper with the second largest broadsheet circulation in the country. It has enormous influence on Canada’s political and business elite.

Richard Poplak is a Canadian writer currently based in Africa.

For policy wonks, this season’s equivalent of tween thriller The Hunger Games is a book called Why Nations Fail: The Origins of Power, Prosperity and Poverty. The pundits are giddy about its mixture of deep historical context and forehead-slapping common sense. Authors Daron Acemoglu and James A. Robinson, economists by day, insist that functional political institutions lead to successful economic institutions, and not the other way around.

Antagonizing libertarians, geographical determinists and the Ottawa chapter of Atlas Shrugs Rulz! alike, the authors claim that any smart economic policy will necessarily arise from an inclusive political system, where all is governed by rule of law, property rights are protected and hard work is rewarded by a paycheque subsequently taxed.

So far, a gold star for Canada (and a dunce cap for China) – until we slam into the following statement: “Sustained economic growth requires innovation, and innovation cannot be decoupled from creative destruction, which replaces the old with the new in the economic realm and also destabilizes established power relations in politics.”

Free, prior and informed consent for certainty, prosperity [resource development and First Nations] – by Shane Maffat (Greenpeace Blogpost – April 13, 2012)

April 14, 2012

http://www.greenpeace.org/canada/en/

A lot of effort has been made, by Minister of Natural Resources Joe Oliver and others, to portray the principle of free, prior and informed consent (FPIC) for industrial development in traditional Indigenous territories as somehow obstructionist, an impediment to “progress”. This is as intentional as it is disingenuous.

Enshrined in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, which Canada has formally endorsed, the principle arose from a shared experience of Indigenous communities around the world whereby “consultations” have almost exclusively constituted a rubber stamp for unfettered resource exploitation to benefit a wealthy few and large corporations. The broader global context, Greenpeace and others would argue, is one of environmental, economic and social unsustainability which has in great part been caused by the heedless exploitation of lands where Indigenous peoples have been ignored, and their authority eroded.

How to address the recurring phenomenon of rubber stamp consultations, which has, and continues, to produce such negative results for people and planet alike? After more than two decades of multilateral negotiations between Indigenous peoples (including many of Canada’s own Indigenous leaders), UN member-states, observers from UN organs and specialized agencies, the finely balanced principle we now know as FPIC has emerged as the internationally recognized minimum human rights standard for solving the conundrum.

Head start in race to China – by Claudia Cattaneo (National Post – April 13, 2012)

April 14, 2012

The National Post is Canada’s second largest national paper.

CALGARY – With the future of the proposed $5.5-billion Northern Gateway oil sands pipeline proposed by Enbridge Inc. looking bleak because of hardening opposition, competitor Kinder Morgan Energy Partners LP surged from behind Thursday with a plan for a better-looking replacement – a $5-billion expansion of its Trans Mountain pipeline from Edmonton to Vancouver.

The expansion would increase the capacity of the 62-year-old line – the only one moving oil from Alberta to the West Coast and Asia – to 850,000 barrels a day, from today’s 300,000.

The expansion is bigger than under previous plans, which called for a $3.8billion, 600,000-bpd project, and would reduce the need for Northern Gateway, with a capacity of 550,000 bpd, at least for now. If approved by regulators, the expanded system would be operational by 2017, years before Northern Gateway’s planned startup.

The Kinder Morgan plan is backed by 20-year commitments from existing and new shippers after a so-called open season. They suggest that producers, refiners and offshore interests are backing a new horse in the race to diversify Canada’s oil market in Asia.

Technology boosts cache of known reserves [Canada oil and gas] – by Paul Brent (Globe and Mail – April 13, 2012)

April 14, 2012

The Globe and Mail is Canada’s national newspaper with the second largest broadsheet circulation in the country. It has enormous influence on Canada’s political and business elite.

‘The whole game has changed,’ experts say as Canada’s oil and gas stockpile rises due to new techniques and ‘good work’

You wouldn’t know it by looking at gas prices at the pumps, but Canada’s oil and gas industry is in the midst of a technological revolution that is allowing access to previously unavailable petroleum deposits.

New drilling techniques, particularly the marriage of horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing of rock formations using high pressure water, have unlocked oil and natural gas from deposits that were uneconomic to tap even just a few years ago.

The result has been a dramatic decline in the price of natural gas in North America, a widening of the spread between oil prices in land-locked North America and the rest of the world, and expectations that there is much more oil and gas to be exploited on the continent.

The new technologies and discoveries of suddenly accessible “tight oil” and natural gas in shale deposits has U.S. politicians proclaiming that American energy independence is on the horizon and has pushed worries of Canadian energy depletion well into the future.

Resources ‘R’ Us [Canada] – by Philip Cross (National Post – April 13, 2012)

April 14, 2012

The National Post is Canada’s second largest national paper.

Philip Cross is the former chief economic analyst at Statistics Canada.

There seems to be more than the usual disconnect between the business community and economists in Canada these days. Open any business page or stock market report and they are positively gushing with stories about our natural resources: oil prices hitting near record highs, new plans for pipelines on what seem a daily basis, a revival of mining development on an epic scale, and land prices on the Prairies at stratospheric levels.

The trend is so pronounced, even governments have sat up and taken notice. Western Canada has long tied its economic development to natural resources. Newfoundland lifted itself out of “have not” status by adopting this strategy, starting with offshore oil and gas and more recently mining in its interior.

In their latest budgets, the federal and Quebec governments have clearly embraced natural resource projects as the road to prosperity, however ill-conceived their attempts to subsidize a booming sector. While the Premier of Ontario equivocates about the possibility of “Dutch Disease” in its manufacturing sector, investments in energy and mining in the real world of Ontario now total twice as much as in its manufacturing sector.