Trump announces major Venezuela oil deal, and what it means for Canada
The timing of this, in the midst of a major trade dispute between Canada and the US, as well as the impending Alberta independence referendum, if likely no coincidence. Trump may have just played his trump card, as it were. If our biggest customer of our most valuable product no longer needs or wants it, what are we to do?
Wanna build a data centre in Saskatchewan? Be Canadian, and bring your own power.
While the backlash has been growing, anyone who uses their cellphone for Google, Facebook, Twitter, Gmail or nearly any other major app is, in fact, using a data centre. The online protests about data centre quite literally use data centres to make their posts. If you use a smartphone, you are using data centres.
Moe: “We cannot in any way support the adding of export tariffs on a product like oil”
“Again, this is only a function of a flawed policy discussion that we have had in this nation over the course of the last decade or better, where we see those very, in all too often, those very same individuals that are promoting export tariffs on a product like oil, 10 years ago, were the very same individuals standing up and saying we should not build important energy security infrastructure like the Energy East Pipeline.” – Scott Moe
Think about this: The top three contributors to Saskatchewan’s GDP is oil, potash and ag, with oil and potash vying for top spot (usually it’s oil, but potash might beat it this year). If we put an export tax on any of those, we’re shooting ourself through the foot, floor, and neighbour’s ceiling in the apartment below us.
Op-Ed: Christina Turnbull: More Than Megawatts: A Power Worker’s View of Saskatchewan’s Coal Transition
NDP release Pembina Institute paper on costs of coal refurbishment, but the paper leaves out a lot of context. The report puts a lot of faith in wind and solar, but real world examples over the last two weeks bring that faith into doubt. Using the scenarios the Pembina Institute outlines in the report quoted by the NDP, on Aug. 12, Saskatchewan would have run out of batteries six times in 24 hours.
And just after I finished writing this at 2 a.m., I got an email alert that Alberta wind generation fell to less than 1 per cent output, again. But they have no use for baseload power. Good grief.
Jim Warren: Uncertainty abounds in our tumultuous times: It’s starting to negatively affect the quality of oil market analysis
Whereas Premier Scott Moe focused on the trade war, NDP Leader Carla Beck focused on Moe.
Prime Minister Carney’s statement on trade negotiations. Yes, they’ve gone kaput, and a press conference is expected to go live at 11 a.m. EDT.
I wonder what position our elbows are to be placed now?
A look back at the Keystone XL pipeline drama as Trump touts its potential revival
Trump boasts Keystone XL as trade talk win. It’s not clear it was ever off the table.
N.S. premier says U.S. trade dispute a ‘wake-up call’ for economic diversification
What does the mammoth Newfoundland/Quebec hydro and wind deal mean for Saskatchewan’s nuclear ambitions?
Posted on Donald Trump’s official Truth Social on Tuesday night:
“I have paused the 50% Tariffs against Canada, that were scheduled to kick in tomorrow morning for a three day period, based on the fact that Canada and the U.S.A., subject to the finalization of documents, have a DEAL! The great Keystone XL Pipeline, long ago killed by Sleepy Joe Biden, may be awoken from the grave! Thank you for your attention to this matter. President DONALD J. TRUMP”
Here’s what it means for Saskatchewan and the oil industry:
Trump says trade deal reached, and Keystone XL “May be awoken from the grave”
Alberta’s fleet of 1,760 wind turbines hardly put out any power since mid-afternoon on Friday leading into at least late-morning on Saturday. And one, again, is the loneliest number when that’s the total amount of megawatts produced from the fleet of 1,760 turbines.
Pipeline Online Podcast is now on Spotify
Sometimes, when you’re a one man band, it’s hard to find time to play the trumpet while you’re also playing the tuba. And such, it has taken much longer than it should have to get the Pipeline Online Podcast connected with Spotify in such a way that included the video.
It only took about 20 hours to upload the back catalog.
Also:
The good professor wanted me to print a rebuttal. So I did.
Op-Ed: Brett Dolter: A rebuttal to coal analysis by Pipeline Online
and
Pembina Pipeline says West Coast pipeline stake fits into its broader strategy
NDP claim coal refurbishments will cost even more, while SaskPower minister tours Boundary Dam and Estevan mine
On a day when the Minister Responsible for SaskPower was touring the work done on the coal-fired Boundary Dam Power Station Unit 4 and the nearby Estevan coal mine, the Saskatchewan NDP was quoting another number, their highest yet, as an estimated cost of the coal refurbishments. But what are those numbers based on?
Pipeline Online digs into that analysis, and finds the scenarios each to have significant flaws.
Also:
Jim Warren: Why the biggest oil supply crisis in history hasn’t produced the highest crude prices in recent history
RM of Griffin approves Seven Stars, the contentious Weyburn wind project
Pipeline Online Podcast Ep. 40: James Baker of Helium Evolution
Helium Evolution is an active player in the Saskatchewan helium space. Helium is one of the materials dramatically affected by the Iran War. James Baker is chair of Helium Evolution and one if its founders. It’s all about rockets, MRIs and high tech, not balloons.
Here’s a sample:
Also:
Construction begins on $4-billion Enbridge natural gas pipeline expansion in B.C.
Nemeth Report: US Grid Crisis Exposed Virtual Power Plants, NE Instability & Shorting the Grid with Meredith Angwin
Digging deep: Smith and Ford announce Northern Shield Energy Corridor pipeline
Call it Energy East 2.0, but kinda sorta, not really. There’s no Moosomin on-ramp like Energy East. It doesn’t make it past the Quebec border, yet. But it could possibly have offshoots to Churchill and maybe James Bay. This is the Saskatchewan perspective story on this pipeline
Also:
Finding a side hustle on TikTok, young Estevan man brings old headlights back to life and saved me $493.80
TMX 2? Trans Mountain 3? West Coast Pipeline to parallel existing Trans Mountain route, foregoing northern ports. In a case where going with the devil you know, the newly proposed West Coast Pipeline is expected to follow most of the Trans Mountain Pipeline right of way – you know, the one that saw TMX go from $7.5 billion to around $34 billion.
Yes, I did stay up until 5 a.m. writing this.
Mark Carney’s video: Forward Guidance: Canada’s Energy Future
If you listen to the end, you’ll hear Carney essentially say Trudeau’s policies don’t work today.
Electrical intertie announcement indicates Saskatchewan will be building large reactors, and powering MB and SK
The implications for Saskatchewan, Estevan and even Weyburn are massive. I do an analysis at the tail end of the piece.
Also:
Jim Warren: Canada’s Liberals—dumber than Democrats on climate policy