Tag: oil production

Calling out Biden on Keystone XL cancellation

Democrats Drill, Baby, Drill 11 Comments

This stirs up serious memories for me, as I was the Canadian reporter in 2016 who asked presidential candidate Donald Trump if he would approve the Keystone XL Pipeline. He said he would, but “he wanted a piece.”

Here we are in 2023, and a Canadian Press reporter challenged President Joe Biden on cancelling the Keystone XL and delaying the Line 5 project, but approving a new oil project in Alaska. And it turns out, math is hard.

I don’t know who that reporter was, but I’d buy him a bottle of 18-year old Scotch.

Also, there’s a hell of a lot said about energy in the joint statement released by Trudeau and Biden. And some in his speech to Parliament, too.

Pay attention to this Newfoundland offshore oil case

Climate Cult Drill, Baby, Drill Insufferable Twits 19 Comments
Bay du Nord project artist conception. Equinor

Uncertainty about the regulation of downstream emissions was one of the things that ultimately killed the Energy East Pipeline project. This was one of the clearest cases of the federal Liberal government “moving the goalposts.” If legal ecowarriors Ecojustice are successful in this case, it could have profound implications for all oil production in Canada. That’s especially is we are to be “net zero” by any particular date.

Note in the story how the Bay du Nord offshore project was approved by CN-tower climber himself, Steven Guilbeault. The story notes how it was one of the hardest choices in his life. Interesting, how a Newfoundland offshore project could get approval from none other that Guilbeault, and yet the rest of the oil industry feels it has no hope with him. Would that have anything to do with Newfoundland’s consistent election results of nearly every seat going Liberal red for decades? And that this project will be enormously profitably for Newfoundland? Yet when it came to the $20 billion Teck Frontier oilsands project in Alberta, the company walked away because it didn’t feel it could get any regulatory confidence from the feds?

$40 billion in oilpatch CAPEX sounds great for 2023, until you realize it is half of 2014

Drill, Baby, Drill Ethical Energy 31 Comments
Oilwell battery construction in southeast Saskatchewan, fall of 2022. Photo by Brian Zinchuk

Back in the lofty, pre-Trudeau government days of 2014, back when oil was booming, pipelines were planned to east and west coasts, and Alberta and Saskatchewan were swimming in money, around $81 billion was spent in capital expenditures (CAPEX) in the Canadian petroleum industry. On Wednesday, the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP) forecast CAPEX of $40 billion, which is just about double the disaster year of 2020, but half of 2014. And that’s before #justinflation. What would it be if we had a federal government supportive of the industry, instead of trying to make it disappear?

Curiously, Enbridge announced on the same day its spending a lot of money in Texas, including a port facility for Houston. Funny how it’s not talking about Northern Gateway to Kitimat, or Churchill, or even Valdez, Alaska? Wonder why?

And here’s Brian Zinchuk’s column analyzing all this.

Teck was going to spend $20 billion in the oil sands, now it’s totally out. Blame the feds

Drill, Baby, Drill 19 Comments

Teck, one of Canada’s largest mining companies, has been around for over 100 years. But even with all that experience, they couldn’t handle the federal government’s Impact Assessment. They were going to spend $20 billion on their Frontier Oil Sands Project. The initial application was in 2012, but eight years later, they didn’t have an answer, so they pulled it. On Thursday, they sold off their last oil sands interests and are out of the oil sands entirely. Wonder why?

Carbon capture, utilization and storage coming to the fore

youmightbeinsaskatchewan 15 Comments

Three stories on carbon capture and storage (CCUS): On Wednesday, the feds announced an intake for projects related to CCUS.

And the Petroleum Technology Research Centre announced recently they were including a CCUS summit in this spring’s Williston Basin Petroleum Conference.

And then there’s the oilsands efforts in CCUS. Bonus points for the Canadian Press story including the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives.

Saskatoon born and raised, cut his teeth in Lloydminster oilpatch, now CEO of significant Sask oil producer

youmightbeinsaskatchewan 3 Comments

Rob Morgan, president and CEO of Strathcona Resources, grew up in Saskatoon and went to chemical engineering at the U of S. He cut his teeth in the Lloydminster oilpatch, and is now running one of the largest oil produces in Saskatchewan. Strathcona bought Serafina Energy this past year, and has substantial activity north of North Battleford. The Patchwork Podcast on Pipeline Online goes deep with Morgan, who sees a long future for oil and gas.

Who gives a frac? That’s a really good question

Drill, Baby, Drill youmightbeinsaskatchewan 14 Comments
If you truly give a frac, this is what it looks like.

A huge reason behind Saskatchewan’s growth as a ‘have’ province was the advent of horizontal oil wells with multi-stage fracking, which had a substantial impact on oil production. And Crescent Point ended up with most of the fracked oil plays in Saskatchewan – the Bakken, Torquay and Shaunavon. But in what can only be considered a stunning move, Crescent Point announced on Wednesday that it’s trying to drill wells in the Bakken but not frac them.

 

Moe’s Drawing the Line: releases white paper with profound impact on energy.

youmightbeinsaskatchewan 37 Comments

It’s 6 a.m. and after pulling an all-nighter I am finally finishing writing these three pieces. Huge impact on energy policy in Saskatchewan, affecting oil, coal, nukes, farming, fertilizer, even manure. Moe even mentions possibility of carbon capture on Shand. But feds want to kill off all fossil fuel power generation by 2035. On Oct. 9, 82% of Saskatchewan’s power came from coal or natural gas.

Part 1

Drawing the Line: Saskatchewan releases white paper defining how federal climate change regulation is choking this province

Part 2

From food and fuel to cow crap: How 9 federal climate change policies will suck Saskatchewan dry over the next 12 years

Part 3:

Brian Zinchuk: There’s only one word for all the greenhouse gas programs the feds have or will impose on Saskatchewan: strangulation

 

Oil Production Vital Statistics

Y2Kyoto 18 Comments

The oil price has begun 2018 strongly with Brent breaking through $70 / bbl for the first time since December 2014. OPEC+Russia+others’ discipline on production constraint remains high with ~ 1.7 Mbd production withheld from the market. The IEA reports an ~1 Mbpd stock draw in the OECD + China in 4Q 2017. IEA revisions transform the picture in the USA from one of static production to one of strong growth over the last 3 months (this undoes one of the assumptions used in my 2018 oil price forecast).

Oil Production Vital Statistics January 2018
venezuela train wreck 10.png
Oil production in Venezuela has fallen 810,000 bpd since December 2014 and describes the slow motion train wreck taking place in that country.

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