Twitter

Oil and Gas Sector-Politics and Image

The federal government’s climate plan is heavy on targets, slim on details – by Ryan Tumilty and Catherine Lévesque (National Post – March 30, 2022)

https://nationalpost.com/

OTTAWA – The federal government set firm targets for massive emissions cuts in Canada’s oil and gas industry Tuesday, but offered little detail about how it will help the industry make those steep reductions.

Unveiling the plan at a press conference in Vancouver, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said he was confident Canadian companies would find ways to meet the targets. “With record profits, this is the moment for the oil and gas sector to invest in the sustainable future that will be good for business, good for communities, and good for our future,” Trudeau said.

Read more

Mark Ruffalo’s eco-colonialism will only serve to keep First Nations impoverished – by Melissa Mbarki (National Post – March 22, 2022)

https://nationalpost.com/

Melissa Mbarki is policy analyst and outreach co-ordinator for the Indigenous policy program at the Macdonald-Laurier Institute.

When there is foreign interference, especially from high-profile celebrities like Ruffalo, it sets Indigenous communities back

On March 17, actor Mark Ruffalo called on the Royal Bank of Canada to stop financing British Columbia’s Coastal GasLink Pipeline, citing “climate change and First Nation’s rights.” Once again, Indigenous people are being stereotyped as anti-resource, when in fact only a minority hold this position, as evidenced by the fact that all 20 First Nations along the line have approved the project.

The Coastal GasLink Pipeline will transport natural gas to the Douglas Channel near Kitimat, B.C. This coastal port will then transport liquefied natural gas (LNG) to global markets. LNG will replace coal-fired electricity, reducing emissions around the world, which will have a positive effect on the environment.

Read more

Opinion: Killing Canada’s world-class energy industry destroys Indigenous aspirations – by Chris Sankey (Calgary Herald – March 21, 2022)

https://calgaryherald.com/

Chris Sankey is a former elected councillor for the Lax Kw’alaams Band, a senior fellow at the Macdonald-Laurier Institute, and a businessman.

Oil and gas sector emissions caps proposed by Ottawa will hurt hundreds of Indigenous communities who need responsible resource development to achieve prosperity and opportunity. The Trudeau government is ignoring its political and legal obligations to Indigenous peoples.

Liquified natural gas (LNG) production is extremely important to our communities in northern British Columbia. In other areas, oil production, processing and distribution hold the key to prosperity. Indigenous communities have been working for years to identify projects that our nations could support. We intend to pursue such opportunities as we see fit.

Read more

Opinion: Fracking, nuclear and research are Europe’s best energy bets – by Bjorn Lomborg (Financial Post – March 15, 2022)

https://financialpost.com/

We must invest in sensible alternatives to Russian oil and gas, not engage in wishful thinking about renewable energy

The devastating Russian invasion of Ukraine has captured global attention. While the world’s focus is rightly on the human toll and suffering, the crisis has highlighted the need to end reliance on Russian oil and gas. To achieve that ambition, we must be pragmatic and invest in sensible alternatives, not engage in wishful thinking about renewable energy.

Every single day, the world spends more than US$1 billion on fossil fuels from Russia. As Ukrainian Foreign Affairs Minister Dmytro Kuleba tweeted, that money is now paying for the “murder of Ukrainian men, women and children.” We must end this reliance.

Read more

Majority of Americans support restarting Keystone XL pipeline to make up for Russian oil ban – by Tyler Dawson (National Post – March 15, 2022)

https://nationalpost.com/

More than a year after President Joe Biden killed the Keystone XL project, support for the pipeline has surged in the U.S. in the wake of the country’s ban on the import of Russian oil, a new poll shows.

The exclusive poll of Americans conducted by Maru Public Opinion for Postmedia found that 71 per cent of Americans think Biden should give an executive order to “green light the restart of the building of the Keystone XL pipeline that would transport oil from Canada’s oil sands region through the Midwest to refineries in Texas.”

Read more

How the war in Ukraine will shape Canada’s energy and climate policies – by Mark Winfield (Toronto Star – March 12, 2022)

https://www.thestar.com

Canada could be asked to increase oil and natural gas production, presenting challenges for Canada’s efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions

Major wars are often watershed moments in history. Their outcomes define governance structures, politics and policy directions for decades, even centuries, to come. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine already seems certain to have these kinds of effects at the national, regional and global scales.

The invasion has quickly come to dominate political and policy agendas, displacing the focus from the COVID-19 pandemic and climate change. But the war in Ukraine will have major implications for these questions, particularly around energy and climate change, for Canada and the rest of the world, far into the future.

Read more

Potential for Canadian natural gas to help Europe move away from Russia: Wilkinson – by Ryan Tumilty (National Post – March 9, 2022)

https://nationalpost.com/

We can’t be hostage to somebody who can blackmail us’: says Canada’s natural resources minister

OTTAWA – Federal natural resources minister Jonathan Wilkinson said his government is interested in helping Europe replace Russian natural gas and that shipping more natural gas to Europe would not contradict Canada’s climate goals.

Wilkinson said Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine is a wake-up call that the continent is far too reliant on Russian energy and in recent international meetings there is widespread desire for change.

Read more

Saudi Arabia Slams Shortsighted Campaign Against Oil – by Tsvetana Paraskova (Oil Price – Feb 22, 2022)

https://oilprice.com/

The world’s top oil exporter, Saudi Arabia, has repeatedly said it wants to be the producer that will pump the very last barrel of oil. Until that time comes, the world and its growing economy will still need oil and gas, even as renewable energy capacity soars globally.

The rebound of economies after the 2020 COVID slump has shown that global oil demand is not only not declining, but it is just months away from reaching pre-pandemic levels and exceeding them. This weekend, Saudi Arabia once again deplored the underinvestment in oil and gas and said that focusing only on renewables while campaigning against oil and gas was a mistake.

Read more

What Canadian policymakers can learn from Europe’s energy woes – by Eric Nuttall (Financial Post – March 1, 2022)

https://financialpost.com/

It should be obvious: the world needs more, not less, of Canada’s abundant and ethically produced energy

As a dad of three young kids, much of my non-working hours are spent trying to help them avoid self-inflicted injury. Fatherhood, it seems, has imbued me with the ability to foresee imminent potential doom such as head traumas and broken bones.

A key lesson I try to teach my kids is that while wisdom is often the result of experience, which is often the result of bad decisions, smart people try to learn from the mistakes of others rather than making the same mistakes themselves. Gain the wisdom, avoid the pain.

Read more

OPINION GUEST ESSAY: The West’s Delusion of Energy Independence – by Dennis C. Blair and Joseph F. Dunford Jr. (New York Times – February 22, 2022)

https://www.nytimes.com/

Russia’s belligerence against Ukraine is underscoring once again the inextricable link between national security and energy security. Today, Russia is flexing its energy dominance over a dependent Europe. But tomorrow, the danger may come from China and its control over the raw materials that are key to a clean energy future. The United States and its allies must ensure that doesn’t happen.

In recent years America has been lulled into a false sense of energy independence. The shale revolution of the past decade has generated incredible supplies of vital natural gas and oil. European countries, blessed with diverse economies, have also felt relatively secure in recent years. But that is changing.

Read more

Coastal GasLink attack: Wet’suwet’en Nation members, hereditary chiefs to meet amid concerns over ‘militant outside influences’ – by Brent Jang, Wendy Stueck and Nancy MacDonald (Globe and Mail – February 23, 2022)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

A group of nearly 120 members of the Wet’suwet’en Nation is calling for an emergency meeting with hereditary leaders after last Thursday’s attack on workers at a construction camp for a controversial natural gas pipeline in northern British Columbia.

“It remains very evident that the Nation is extremely divided and that militant outside influences have created a violent and confrontational dynamic onto our territories,” said the letter dated Wednesday.

Read more

How Canada can keep Europe’s lights on – by John Ivison (National Post – February 23, 2022)

https://nationalpost.com/

There are good reasons why Vladimir Putin’s “little green men” have been able to operate with impunity in Ukraine for the past eight years. Putin has been able to deny that Russian troops without insignia are an invasion force because the international community doesn’t want concrete proof of the truth, in case it is obliged to do something about it.

The reason: Russia supplies one third of the gas that heats homes across Europe. Even as Putin cleared the way for a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Western countries were still purchasing hundreds of millions of dollars of oil and gas from Russia.

Read more

Germany halts Nord Stream 2 pipeline over Russia’s Ukraine incursion, but other sanctions still in doubt – by Eric Reguly (Globe and Mail – February 22, 2022)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Europe’s big unity tests began today, only hours after Russian President Vladimir Putin formally recognized the independence of two breakaway regions in eastern Ukraine and poured his “peacekeeper” soldiers into those areas.

Within minutes of the formal takeover of Donetsk and Luhansk, the United States and various European countries threatened to hit Russia with immediate sanctions. This was predictable. When Russia annexed Crimea in 2014, the sanctions came fast and some are still in place.

Read more

Violent overnight attack at Coastal GasLink site leaves workers shaken, millions in damage – by Cheryl Chan (Vancouver Sun – February 17, 2022)

https://vancouversun.com/

Violence has erupted at a Coastal GasLink pipeline work site in Northern B.C., leaving workers shaken and millions of dollars in damage. Very early Thursday, just after midnight, Coastal GasLink security called RCMP for help, reporting it was under attack by about 20 people, some wielding axes.

RCMP Chief Supt. Warren Brown, commander for the north district, called the attack a “calculated and organized violent attack that left its victims shaken and a multi-million dollar path of destruction.”

Read more

Gas, fracking, nuclear: Three energy sectors on Europe’s rethink list as war threatens Ukraine – by Eric Reguly (Globe and Mail – February 16, 2022)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

In the fall, when Russia began deploying more than 100,000 troops to Ukrainian border areas, prices for all forms of energy, especially natural gas, rose – and kept rising. The painful energy bills triggered a reassessment of Europe’s energy policies.

How did Europe become so dependent on gas imports? Would the lights go out if Russia were to invade? Did Europe vastly overestimate the ability of green power to fill the energy gap? Was it a mistake to phase out nuclear and coal-fired plants?

Read more