Jim Warren: Trump’s Venezuela oil ‘deal’ might not be all that and a bag of chips.
Trump’s Venezuela deal underlines the urgency of building new export pipelines to reach non-US customers: But that doesn’t mean the universe will unfold like Trump thinks it will.
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?
A day after the federal government unveiled its new retaliatory measures against the US amid the trade war, NDP Leader Avi Lewis is calling on the Liberals to tax energy and critical mineral exports to the US.
There has been growing momentum across the political spectrum behind the idea of using Canadian exports as leverage in the dispute. In recent days, several politicians including Jean Chrétien, Jason Kenney, and David Eby have called on the Carney government to impose or consider imposing an export tax as an option for responding to US tariffs.
The Trump administration is in talks with Venezuela’s interim government about taking an ownership stake in the South American country’s enormous oil resources, two U.S. officials tell Axios.
Why it matters: The historic deal would more than double U.S. oil reserves by drawing from a country that has the world’s largest proven reserves.
August 28th.
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
Jim Warren: Uncertainty abounds in our tumultuous times: It’s starting to negatively affect the quality of oil market analysis
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”
It’s the physics, stupid.
Can renewables fully replace denser forms of energy?
Geologist Scott Tinker breaks down why energy density matters and how renewables fit into a diversified global energy portfolio, but why they won’t replace energy-dense fuels. pic.twitter.com/jgxz4TyIrQ
— TRIGGERnometry (@triggerpod) August 4, 2026
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
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
Not a bug, but a feature: Canada’s carbon pricing wipes out Alberta oilsands’ edge
Canada’s industrial carbon tax pushes the cost of producing a marginal barrel of oilsands crude to $75 USD (at $95/tonne carbon tax)—well above what new projects in Texas or New Mexico face—stripping away the tax advantage Alberta needs to attract energy investment, according to a new Fraser Institute study by Jack Mintz, president’s fellow at the University of Calgary’s School of Public Policy.
The findings land as Ottawa and Alberta advance a one-million-barrel-per-day West Coast oil pipeline proposal under their November 2025 memorandum of understanding (MOU) and May 2026 implementation agreement. So far, Pembina Pipeline Corp. is the only private partner to sign on, taking a 10 percent stake during construction, and no oil producers have yet committed to shipping on the line.
Mintz said the research began long before the current political moment.
“This work was started about three, four years ago—it was more of an academic interest,” he said in a phone interview with The Hub. “It struck me that no one had really looked at carbon taxation and how it affects competitiveness.”
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
Brian Crossman: Electric car fun. Do EVs have a soul?
