Oil and Gas Sector-Politics and Image – Page 142

Bid to stabilize Canada [Foreign funds against oilsands] – by Ezra Levant (Sudbury Star – December 19, 2011)

December 19, 2011

The Sudbury Star is the City of Greater Sudbury’s daily newspaper.

Who should decide whether Canada develops our oilsands: Canadian citizens, or foreign billionaires and their local hired-gun lobbyists?

It sounds like an absurd question, but it’s very real. In his explosive investigative report today, Sun Media’s Daniel Proussalidis shows that hundreds of millions of foreign dollars, pounds and francs have poured into Canada in recent years from billionaire interests in other countries dead-set against Canada developing our oilsands.

I know from personal experience that Saudi money has gone into smearing the oilsands, too. When my non-profit NGO called ethicaloil.orgran a TV ad comparing the treatment of women in Canada to Saudi Arabia, that foreign dictatorship hired Norton Rose, one of the biggest law firms in the world, to threaten lawsuits against any Canadian TV station that dared to criticize their conflict oil.

It’s not just our enemies like Saudi Arabia. Even our friends, like the United Kingdom, have meddled in our business. Far-left-wing groups like the Pembina Institute have been caught soliciting funds from foreign embassies — including the U.K. High Commission — to pay for their anti-oilsands propaganda.

Foreign funds flowing to fight oilsands – by Daniel Proussalidis (Sudbury Star – December 19, 2011)

December 19, 2011

The Sudbury Star is the City of Greater Sudbury’s daily newspaper.

OTTAWA – While debate rages about the Northern Gateway pipeline project to connect Alberta’s oilsands to a tanker terminal in Kitimat, B.C., European financing is pouring in to environmental and aboriginal groups who lead the charge against the projects. The stakes have never been higher.

A major University of Calgary study released Thursday concluded if pipeline capacity existed to take full advantage of the oilsands, Canada’s economy would see a $131 billion boost between 2016 and 2030.

Yet opposition to the oilsands has been active for years, and now QMI Agency has learned Swiss and British money has been pumped into Canada, adding a new element to an issue that has focused on billionaire American foundations so far.

Janet Annesley with the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP) said oilsands opposition isn’t all “grassroots.”

Long road ahead for environmental monitoring in the oilsands by Jennifer Pagliaro (Toronto Star – December 18, 2011)

December 18, 2011

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.

Government “outsourcing” of environmental monitoring in the oilsands has created a fractured system lacking scientific credibility and transparency that caters to oil industry interests, top scientists and environmental groups say.

As environmental groups’ criticism for development in the oilsands finds renewed vigour — with Kyoto abandoned and Total’s Joslyn North strip mine approved in the span of less than a week — the disjointed array of monitoring groups tasked with protecting vulnerable ecosystems simply can’t keep up.

And while the Alberta government promises plans for a new comprehensive monitoring system as early as next month, many are worried it will never match the pace of development.

The provincial government passed most of the responsibility for monitoring land, biodiversity, air and water quality in the oilsands to third-party groups as development boomed in the late ‘90s. Now, production is forecasted to more than double by 2025 — nearly 4.1 million barrels of bitumen per day.

Russia blasting into fragile Arctic in search of oil – by Paul Watson (Toronto Star – December 18, 2011)

December 18, 2011

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.

MURMANSK, RUSSIA—For as long as humans have spread out to conquer the planet, despoiling as they progress, the Arctic’s punishing environment has been its best defence.

Like fortress ramparts, heavy snow, metres-thick ice and battering winds made it very hard for miners, oil drillers and industrialists to take much ground, let alone make a grab for the riches of a frozen sea. Those walls are crumbling fast.

The rush is on to drill offshore in the fragile Arctic, and Russia is at the front of the pack with ambitious, and risky, plans to exploit some of the world’s biggest untapped oil and natural gas reserves.

Around 1,200 kilometres northwest of here, squeezed from all sides by the powerful ice of the Pechora Sea, Russia’s first ice-resistant stationary oil rig in the Arctic shelf is set to begin drilling for crude.

Fifteen years in the building, the Prirazlomnaya drilling platform is 126 square metres, weighs 117,000 tons without ballast, and sits on a gigantic box of heavy steel designed to withstand the intense pressure of constantly shifting Arctic ice.

Keystone delay costs $100B yearly – by Sheldon Alberts (National Post – December 16, 2011)

December 16, 2011

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.

The Obama administration’s ongoing delay approving the Keystone XL pipeline is a “tragedy” that is costing the North American economy thousands of jobs and up to $100 billion a year in economic benefit, TransCanada Corp.’s chief executive said Thursday.

“That’s the kind of economic stimulus that gets generated. I don’t think we can afford to continue to delay things like that,” TransCanada president and CEO Russ Girling said in an interview.

But even as he noted Keystone XL has undergone “the most rigorous review of a pipeline ever built anywhere in North America,” Girling told Postmedia News he wants no part of the current fight in Congress over speeding up a decision on his company’s $7 billion oilsands project.

Despite its initial disappointment with a State Department last month that delayed a ruling on a permit for Keystone XL until early 2013, Girling said TransCanada is comfortable working within the new timeline.

United at last [Canada, U.S.Energy Policy] – by Jonathan Kay (National Post – December 15, 2011)

December 15, 2011

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

Jonathan Kay is Managing Editor for Comment at the National Post and a fellow at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies.

At a dinner event hosted at the Canadian embassy in Washington last week, former U.S. national security advisor Robert “Bud” McFarlane was asked to explain why America has no “energy policy.”

In response, he paraphrased an answer that Gary Hart once had given to that very question: “Oh, you’re wrong about that. We do have an energy policy. We limit ourselves to one fuel. We buy it from a cartel. And every five years, we go to war to maintain that privilege. That’s the policy.”

The fuel, of course, is oil. The cartel is OPEC. And the last war, in Iraq, has cost the United States close to a trillion dollars. That’s a hard number to swallow in a country where the national debt has become a source of shame and political paralysis. It isn’t just peaceniks who are fretting about “war for oil” these days. It’s also hawks like McFarlane and former CIA director James Woolsey, who appeared alongside McFarlane at Thursday night’s panel.

Shipping oil to Asia? The route’s east, not west – by Derek Burney and Eddie Goldenberg (Globe and Mail – December 13, 2011)

December 13, 2011

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 handling of the Keystone XL pipeline process by the Obama administration serves as a loud wake-up call for Canada. While America remains our most important market, Prime Minister Stephen Harper has said that Canada should not be a “captive supplier” of energy for the United States. In light of global demand growth, it’s also in Canada’s national interest for Ottawa to act decisively to enable our oil and gas industry to diversify its customer base.

The fast-growing markets in Asia, particularly China and India, are obvious targets, but they need the assurance that Canadian oil won’t be landlocked in Alberta. Federal and provincial governments must understand that the Chinese and Indians are not sitting idly by enjoying the spectacle of the interminable and uncertain Canadian regulatory process. They’re actively seeking long-term supplies from other producers around the globe.

Obviously, the best way to ship Canadian oil to Asia would be through West Coast ports. That’s the rationale both for the proposed Northern Gateway pipeline to Kitimat and for expanding the existing Trans Mountain pipeline system to B.C.’s Lower Mainland.

Laying pipe and drilling shale [in U.S.] – by Clifford D. May (National Post – December 13, 2011)

December 13, 2011

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

My country, America, is in economic distress. The crisis threatens our national security because a nation that is weak economically cannot be strong in other ways. If only we had an untapped source of wealth, a nest egg we could crack and use to grow the economy, create jobs, raise Americans’ standard of living while providing the resources needed to defend the nation from its enemies.

Oh wait: We do.

Much of it is under our feet, in the ground, in deposits of shale – sedimentary rock rich in both oil and natural gas. Large shale fields have been found in South Dakota, Montana, Pennsylvania, New York, West Virginia and elsewhere in both the U.S. and Canada.

Until recently, this energy was expensive to access. Now, however, revolutionary new technologies have changed the cost equation. In particular, there is hydraulic fracturing: pressurized water is used to free the oil and natural gas.

First Nations group signs deal with Enbridge – by Wendy Stueck (Globe and Mail – December 3, 2011)

December 5, 2011

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.

A day after native groups rallied in a show of force against the Northern Gateway project, a hereditary chief announced that the Gitxsan people had signed on as a partner in the $5.5-billion proposal – allowing Enbridge to make good on its contention that native opposition to the company’s plans is far from unanimous.

But even as Enbridge welcomed the support of the Gitxsan nation and praised the vision of its leaders, dozens of native groups remained staunchly opposed, insisting that the pipeline-and-tanker project poses an unacceptable risk of oil spills and other problems.

“Enbridge has always had a strategy of offering money to lots of First Nations. Lots of First Nations have refused this money,” Chief Jackie Thomas of Saik’uz First Nation, said in a statement, adding that Enbridge is using a “divide and conquer” tactic in an attempt to win over its critics.

The Saik’uz, along with dozens of other bands, have signed a declaration opposing the project, which would ship crude oil from Alberta to the B.C. coast and condensate from Kitimat to Alberta.

Aboriginal groups stand against Canadian oil pipeline – by Laura Stone (Toronto Star – December 2, 2011)

December 2, 2011

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

A group of First Nations in British Columbia says it will do “whatever means necessary” to stop exports of crude oil from Alberta’s oilsands through their territories — including the controversial Enbridge Northern Gateway oil pipeline.

The $5.5-billion project, which is currently being assessed by a review panel in Ottawa, now faces yet another public relations setback in its quest to open up a new supply route to Asia.

Some 130 aboriginal groups claimed Thursday the company would be contravening international laws such as the non-binding United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Aboriginal Peoples if it the pipeline goes ahead without their approval.

“We will do whatever means necessary, and we do have the support,” said Geraldine Thomas-Flurer, who represents the Yinka Dene Alliance of five First Nations.

‘Just watch us,’ Native group warns Enbridge – by Claudia Cattaneo (National Post – November 30, 2011)

November 30, 2011

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

If there were any doubts Enbridge Inc. faces an epic battle over its proposed Northern Gateway pipeline between Alberta and the British Columbia coast, a cross-border coalition representing environmentalists and First Nations put that to rest Tuesday as it launched the opening salvo against the $5.5-billion project.

Along with releasing a report on the dangers of oil sands transport, the coalition provided a taste of its strategy: it’ll fight the project before regulators, in the court of public opinion, by legal means if necessary and by using civil disobedience.

“As a famous prime minister once said, just watch us,” Gerald Amos, a member of the Haisla First Nation near the pipeline’s Kitimat end point and director of the Headwaters Initiative, warned in a conference call with reporters to kick off the campaign.

“Everyone involved, including myself, have made commitments to one another, that we will do whatever it takes, legally and otherwise, to stop this project.”

Canadian energy sector marches to its own drummer – by Claudia Cattaneo (National Post – November 29, 2011)

November 29, 2011

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

Mr. Edwards said the strategy is shifting to direct
communication with the public to win “social licence”
from one that had been focused on targeting politicians
to enable them to develop appropriate policies.
(Claudia Cattaneo – Financial Post)

It’s a measure of how much the Canadian energy sector marches to its own drummer that Murray Edwards, one of its top investors and entrepreneurs, regards building pipelines to new markets and improving its image through better communication as the top issues facing it next year.

The next two? Project execution to achieve higher productivity and manage costs, and commodity prices. It’s telling that the challenges are associated with managing growth, in contrast to worries now consuming the market, such as the eurozone crisis and fears of another global downturn.

Opening new markets for Canada’s oil and improving communication efforts shot to the top of the industry’s to-do list for 2012 as a result of this month’s announcement by the United States to delay a decision on whether to allow construction of the Keystone XL pipeline from Alberta’s oil sands to refineries in the U.S. Gulf Coast, said the influential billionaire, a leading investor and chairman or vice-chairman of companies such as oil and gas producer Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. and oil services firm Ensign Energy Services Inc.

Keystone is an early warning for Athabasca – by David Olive (Toronto Star – November 29, 2011)

November 29, 2011

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

U.S. President Barack Obama shocked the Calgary oilpatch earlier this month in delaying approval of the proposed Keystone XL pipeline that would carry Athabasca crude oil across the U.S. Great Plains to refineries on the U.S. Gulf Coast. That step has been greeted in some quarters here as an act of hostility toward Canada.

But it’s the opposite. The U.S. did everyone a favour by putting the brakes on this thing. The environmental impact is clear as mud. And the long-term economic viability not only of Keystone but Athabasca itself is by no means assured.

TransCanada, in which I own shares, earned its setback, playing almost perfectly to the widespread distrust of business in these times. The firm asserted, falsely, that Keystone was essential to U.S. energy security; that halting its progress would spark some kind of national U.S. emergency; and that Keystone had been more thoroughly vetted than any project of its kind.

Keystone’s delay hurts Ontario too – by Frank Dabbs, Special to QMI Agency (London Free Press – Novmeber 26, 2011)

November 28, 2011

London Free Press http://www.lfpress.com/

“What has changed, too, is the Canadian industry’s assumption
that environmental activism is just a nuisance with no major
political clout. … The issues that have ostensibly delayed
the pipeline are not the heart of the matter. Stopping $120
billion worth of oil-sands development over the next 25 years
is the object of the war.” (Frank Dobbs-London Free Press)

This month’s postponement of a decision on Trans Canada Corp.’s Keystone XL pipeline by U.S. President Barack Obama cynically removes a controversy from the 2012 presidential election agenda.

For Canada, including Ontario, it’s a game-changer that anti-oil sands activists are celebrating, but which has gob-smacked industry proponents.

What changed is the assurance of ready access to the U.S. crude-oil market. What has changed, too, is the Canadian industry’s assumption that environmental activism is just a nuisance with no major political clout.

Author Ezra Levant on ‘ethical oil’ – by Trish Audette (Calgary Herald – November 27, 2011)

November 27, 2011

http://www.calgaryherald.com/index.html

EDMONTON — In the days after the U.S. government made it clear expansion plans for the Keystone XL pipeline were on hold until at least 2013, energy experts, industry insiders, politicians and others wondered aloud where Canada’s international oilsands message had gone wrong.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper, just weeks before a decision was delayed to better study environmental impacts, had called approval of Keystone XL a “no-brainer.” Canada’s message throughout the debates, studies and protests of the cross-border pipeline, designed to carry Alberta’s heavy oil across several states to Texas refineries, had been simple: Building Keystone XL would create thousands of American jobs and ensure a secure supply of oil from an “ethical” neighbour.

But amid a sea of hand-wringing and second-guessing, the conservative activist and author who first coined the term “ethical oil” stuck to his message. Writing a column for the Sun newspaper chain, the same media organization that televises his news show each day, Ezra Levant explained U.S. President Barack Obama had simply chosen “Saudi conflict oil” over friendly Canadian oil.