A pipeline to more dividend hikes
The Globe and Mail – February 22, 2012
Lots of companies raise their dividends, but few are as predictable asTransCanada Corp. For more than a decade the pipeline operator and power producer has raised its dividend every January or February, and in each of the past six years the increase was exactly 2 cents a quarter, or 8 cents annually. That includes the most recent bump on Feb. 14, when the company raised its annual dividend to $1.76 from $1.68 – a jump of 4.8 per cent. Read more…
Drilling for the next takeover target
The Globe and Mail – February 22, 2012
If you want to know what’s going on in the energy-services sector, you have to make the acquaintance of Terry Freeman. Read more…
Another pipeline debate kicks off as Kinder Morgan lines up shippers
The Globe and Mail – February 22, 2012
Oil producers have thrown their support behind the proposed Trans Mountain pipeline expansion to the West Coast, but the latest project aimed at providing much-needed shipping capacity for the oil sands industry now faces regulatory hurdles and growing resistance to pipelines. Read more…
BP’s Deepwater catharsis finally on the horizon
Financial Post – February 22, 2012
BP faces its day of reckoning for Macondo. The UK oil major is preparing for a court case that will determine whether it or any of its partners were grossly negligent in managing the ill-fated well in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010. Read more…
Scotland vies with England for US$52B offshore-wind future
Financial Post – February 22, 2012
Scotland and England, haggling over the possible breakup of the U.K., are competing to create a hub for the country’s US$52-billion offshore wind industry. Read more….
Germany’s solar experiment collapses
Financial Post – February 21, 2012
Germany once prided itself on being the “photovoltaic world champion,” doling out generous subsidies – totalling more than US$130-billion, according to research from Germany’s Ruhr University – to citizens to invest in solar energy. But now the German government is vowing to cut the subsidies sooner than planned, and to phase out support over the next five years. What went wrong? Read more…
First Nations reject alternate Nrthern Gateway route
Financial Post – February 21, 2012
Switching the end point of the $5.5-billion Northern Gateway pipeline to Prince Rupert, B.C., from Kitimat will not win support among First Nations already opposed to the pipeline, says Coastal First Nations executive director Art Sterritt. Read more…
Activists planning anti-oil sands strategy since 2008
Financial Post – February 21, 2012
The role of U.S.-based environmental organizations and deep-pocketed foundations in attacking Canada’s oil sands has only recently come to light, but the strategy was put together at least four years ago. Read more…
Carbon capture can curtail CO2 emissions
Financial Post – February 21, 2012
Carbon capture and storage won’t save the world from global warming, but it can play a significant role in curtailing global emissions of carbon dioxide, say experts. Read more…
Canada threatens trade war with EU ahead of oil sands vote
Financial Post – February 21, 2012
Canada is threatening a potential trade war with the European Union over its attempts to single out oilsands as a dirtier kind of crude, a revelation that comes just days before a crucial vote on the matter. Read more…
URS to buy Flint Energy for $1.25B
Financial Post – February 21, 2012
U.S. engineering company URS Corp will buy Canadian oilfield services company Flint Energy Services for $1.25 billion in cash, to expand its presence in the oil and gas sector. Read more…
Oilsands impacts posing ‘financial risk’ to Alberta, says PCO
Calgary Post – February 20, 2012
Collateral damage from Canada’s booming oilsands sector may be irreversible, posing a “significant environmental and financial risk to the province of Alberta,” says a secret memorandum prepared for the federal government’s top bureaucrat. Read more…
Coal, not oil sands, the true climate change bad guy, analysis shows
The Globe and Mail – February 20, 2012
One of the world’s top climate scientists has calculated that emissions from Alberta’s oil sands are unlikely to make a big difference to global warming and that the real threat to the planet comes from burning coal. Read more…
Shale oil boom drives down prices versus rest of world
The Globe and Mail – February 20, 2012
North America’s crude market is increasingly diverging from the international scene, as rising U.S. production and weak demand pose long-term challenges for Canadian-based oil companies. Read more….
First nations don’t have a pipeline veto, but they do have options
The Globe and Mail – February 20, 2012
About 50 first nations lie in Northern Gateway’s path. Consultation with these first nations will be critical, so let’s look at the legal framework. Read more…
Iran threatens to cut off Europe’s oil
Financial Post – February 20, 2012
Tehran will cut oil exports to more EU nations if they remain “hostile,” the deputy oil minister who heads Iran’s state oil company said Monday, a day after sales were halted to France and Britain. Read more…
Tories hopeful ahead of EU vote on oilsands
Calgary Herald – February 17, 2012
The Conservative government is hoping it has won enough support from European Union countries to stymie, for now, a fuel quality standard proposed by the EU’s executive that would label oilsands a dirtier form of crude. Read more…
Canada’s oil sands: Not so dirty after all
The Globe and Mail – February 17, 2012
Canada’s government, which has threatened a trade war over a proposed European rule to penalize oil-sands crude in a bid to clean up transportation fuels, has a powerful new argument in its favour, as new research shows other energy sources are far more dangerous to the climate. Read more…
Enbridge finds small oil pipeline leak in Michigan
The Globe and Mail – February 16, 2012
Enbridge Inc. says it has discovered a small leak in an oil pipeline in the northern Lower Peninsula region of Michigan. Read more…
Video: Should the oil market care about Iran?
The Globe and Mail – February 16, 2012
The country’s threats to cut off European customers may not be a huge supply factor in itself, but it may be just the tip of a risky iceberg, the Roundtable panel says Read more…
Skilled trades deficit colliding with energy boom
The Globe and Mail – February 15, 2012
For many years we have been told Canada faces an acute “skills mismatch,” where the economy has lots of great jobs for the highly qualified – notably engineers, information technology professionals, and science PhDs – without enough of these people to meet the demand. Read more…
Russia’s Transneft revives pipeline plan to bypass Ukraine
The Globe and Mail – February 15, 2012
Russia’s oil pipeline monopoly Transneft is in talks on building a link between its routes in Germany and the Czech Republic to ensure that its exports to central Europe can bypass Ukraine if necessary, a top company official said. Read more….
Tight oil the future of energy in North America
Financial Post – February 15, 2012
Tight oil, the new oil source unlocked by new drilling technologies, is bearing such good results it could quickly compete with Canada’s oil sands as a top secure supply of North American oil. Read more…
Oil scales six-month high on supply worries, Iran
Financial Post – February 15, 2012
Brent oil climbed to a six-month high on Wednesday, as fears of supply disruptions from Iran, other Middle East producers and Africa outweighed concerns about the global economy. Read more…
Talisman Energy cuts spending by $500 million
Financial Post – February 15, 2012
Talisman Energy took a hard line toward achieving profitability, saying the company will be reducing natural gas activity to focus on more profitable liquids-rich gas and oil targets in North America and abroad. Read more…
Vancouver could handle more Kinder Morgan oil: port CEO
Financial Post – February 15, 2012
Vancouver would be able to handle larger tankers that could receive crude oil from an expanded Kinder Morgan Inc. pipeline, allowing Canada to boost energy shipments to Asia, the head of the city’s port authority said. Read more…
Strike action stops Yemen oil exports
Calgary Herald – February 14, 2012
Canadian oil producers in Yemen said a strike by workers at the country’s largest oilfield will impede production from Masila and Hadramout province. Read more…
Congressman introduces bills to stop U.S. natural gas exports
Calgary Herald – February 14, 2012
The United States should stop exports of natural gas to prevent domestic prices from rising, Democratic Congressman Edward Markey said on Tuesday while introducing two bills in the House of Representatives to prevent shipments. Read more…
Iraq aims to more than double northern oil output
Calgary Herald – February 14, 2012
Iraq aims to more than double northern oil production from around 600,000 barrels per day (bpd) to about 1.3 million bpd by the end of 2014, executives from the Northern Oil Co told AFP. Read more…
Customers push for construction of Keystone’s southern leg
The Globe and Mail – February 14, 2012
TransCanada Corp. is facing strong demand from customers to proceed with the southern leg of its proposed Keystone XL pipeline project, even as it has pushed back the expected startup date for the entire $7.8-billion project until early 2015. Read more…
Enbridge offered B.C. first nations cash to study pipeline
The Globe and Mail – February 14, 2012
An aboriginal organization leading the fight to prevent oil tankers on the British Columbia coast once took money from Enbridge Inc., the company planning to sail those same ships larger than the Empire State Building along the coast. Read more…
TransCanada pushes back on Keystone XL
The Financial Post – February 14, 2012
Getting swept up in U.S. Presidential politics can’t be high on the list of any Canadian corporation, but TransCanada Corp. isn’t backing down from its plans to build the Keystone XL oil sands pipeline. Read more…
Hope lives for Saskatchewan oil sands
Financial Post – February 13, 2012
Barely five years ago, Oilsands Quest Inc. proved there are oil sands in Saskatchewan and wanted to build the province’s first major project. Read more….
B.C. First Nation reviews its Enbridge deal, others consider equity offers
The Globe and Mail – February 12, 2012
A second British Columbia First Nation says it has signed on to a sharing agreement with Enbridge Inc., in exchange for its support for the controversial Northern Gateway pipeline, but just as the first deal was nullified after an internal fight, this second one, too, appears in jeopardy after the chief that signed the agreement was turfed and a new band council looks at whether they can get out of it. Read more…
Drillers open their books
The Globe and Mail – February 12, 2012
Three of Canada’s largest energy companies will hand in their fourth-quarter results this week, and to keep investors happy, the trio need to do more than chat about their strategies to keep costs under control. Read more…
IEA cuts 2012 oil demand growth forecast yet again
The Financial Post – February 10, 2012
Global oil demand will grow by less than 1 percent in 2012, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said on Friday, cutting its oil growth demand forecast for a sixth consecutive month due to a weak global economy. Read more…
Oilsands policy threatens federal NDP’s success
Calgary Herald – February 12,
2012
Federal New Democrats know they must broaden their voter base to ever form government, but they are risking western support with energy policies hostile to the oilsands. Read more….
Danielle Smith blasts Tory government’s ‘fantasyland’ revenue forecasts
Calgary Herald – February 11, 2012
Wildrose Leader Danielle Smith says rosy revenue numbers forecast by the gverning Tories in Thursday’s budget can easily be turned from an $880 million deficit into a $1.6 billion surplus while still providing money for new teachers, nurses, police and a raise for the severely handicapped. Read more…
Regulator approves Enbridge pipeline toll
Calgary Herald – February 11, 2012
The National Energy Board has approved the tolls on Enbridge Inc.’s condensate pipeline from Chicago to Edmonton, turning down Imperial Oil Ltd.’s complaint they were discriminatory. Read more…
Harper vows to ensure Northern Gateway is built
Financial Post – February 10, 2012
Canada’s prime minister on Friday made his strongest comments yet in support of a proposed pipeline from oil-rich Alberta to the acific coast, saying his government was committed to ensuring the controversial project went ahead. Read more…