Municipalities say Alberta oilpatch policies harming tax base, public interest
Quick Dick McDick takes on the rail strike/lockout. Much truth ensues
Quick Dick McDick: Canada rail strike/lockout
What is the point of an economy if a few thousand people can shut down the entire economy??? Those are my words. Quick Dick’s are much harsher.
Two podcasts and a column
Brian Zinchuk on Evan Bray: Drilling activity, critical minerals, lithium, helium and roads
This podcast interviews a Regina-based oilman.
Trevor Rose Podcast: Dean Popil, Lex Capital CEO
And for something completely different:
In the spirit of “Get off my lawn!” I’ve realized that we need an entirely new feature, required by law, built into all new electronic devices of importance.
Call it the “dumb mode.”
I am Spartacus!
Brian Crossman: I Am Spartacus, Part Two (Bill C-59 Edition)
The amendments to Bill C-59 are aimed at “greenwashing” meaning you or your company could be charged with making false statements regarding positive climate action. The bigger goal is to prevent companies from stating the inconvenient truth that they are making significant gains on pollution.
Imagine that…
Solar produces zero power 20 nights in a row. This was indeed confirmed by SaskPower.
Also:
TC Energy eyes data centre growth as potential opportunity
CNRL curtailing production from new natural gas wells as low prices persist
If you own it, do you protest it?
Brian Zinchuk: Do pipeline owners protest pipelines? First Nations buy in, literally
Precision Drilling attributes Canadian rig demand growth to Trans Mountain pipeline
If they own pipelines, will they protest pipelines?
Will this put an end to most Indigenous opposition to pipelines? TC Energy signs deal to sell minority stake in pipeline to Indigenous groups.
Also:
Energy Realities Podcast: Energy and the Olympics
Ottawa announces more than $192 million for Nova Scotia clean energy projects
Saturn has four drilling rigs going in the field, three of which are in Sask
Because of course they do
We just built the damned pipeline…
Drill, baby, drill?
Drill, baby, drill: Trump promises energy dominance, but lower energy prices
The last time, that didn’t work out so well for Saskatchewan oil and gas. The depths of the seven year oil downturn which devastated the Saskatchewan oil and gas industry included all four of the Trump years the last time around. While oil low prices benefited consumers and large portions of the economy, they also had a significant impact on Saskatchewan oil companies and particularly oilfield service companies. Activity levels, vendor rates, employment and employee remuneration were all deeply affected by the low energy price policies.
This is NOT an endorsement of Biden by any means, but simply a reflection on what did happen during the last Trump presidency.
Risk power shortages and grid instability
In the continuing Clean Electricity Regulations series, we have the first of two stories from Cenovus, Saskatchewan’s largest oil producer:
Clean Electricity Regulations: Cenovus Energy (Overview) – a much more detailed piece will be published tomorrow.
“In Saskatchewan specifically, we are concerned that the tight timelines required to adhere to the CER will risk power shortages and grid instability.” – Cenovus
Also:
Lithium land sale brings in just under $6 million as SE Sask area grows
and:
From Associated Press, Trump wants to cut taxes and pump more oil
In defense of populism
Jim Warren: In defense of populism: it’s a timeless prairie tradition
Also:
Brian Zinchuk on Evan Bray: C-59 and free speech, Oil and Gas 20 and 30, and more
And:
Ugg. The Canadian Press writes about oil and gas haters trying another way to financially choke the oil and gas industry Climate advocacy group calls out property insurers for fossil fuel support.
Climate advocacy group calls out property insurers for fossil fuel support
To hell with the naysayers
Crowdsourcing a curriculum for the new Oil & Gas 20 and 30 high school classes
The columnists with the Leader-Post and StarPhoenix were aghast that the oil and gas sector would have input into crafting a course. To hell with them. This is an opportunity.
Will you help?
1979 on the way to 1984
Individuals – disgruntled employees, eco-activists, bored people – can go onto the Competition Bureau’s website and fill in the complaint form for the Bureau to decide whether or not to investigate. The unelected, unaccountable bureaucracy will decide who will and will not be investigated.
As I keep saying, this is 1979 on the way to 1984. We might even be in 1980 by now.
It’s not 2024, it’s 1984
The reaction was fast and furious to this horrible intrusion on freedom of speech.
There is no way in hell Pipeline Online will be censored in this manner. I did not wear an air force officer’s reservist’s uniform for seven years to be gagged by my own federal government. A lot of companies, and individuals, feel the same. Here’s their statements:
Oilpatch to Ottawa: To hell with your gag law.
Here’s first evidence of the new law in action. It wasn’t the last.
Pathways Alliance oilsands group removes all website, social media content
Also:
Alberta environment minister unworried by movement toward methane tariffs
Top 10 Saskatchewan conventional oil wells for April
It’s not dead yet, that Bill C-69
Oil and Gas 20 and 30 classes to be offered to Sask high schools
Saskatchewan launches high school oil and gas courses to encourage students to join industry
High school students in Saskatchewan will soon be able to take Grade 11 and 12 level classes in oil and gas. The class will be half online, and half in the field. How that second part is going to work out remains to be seen. This is in-depth coverage on this new initiative to encourage young people to join the energy industry.
My 17 year old son will likely be one of the first to sign up.
UPDATE: and the Leader Post’s Murray Mandryk doesn’t like it.
Also: B.C.’s Eby frustrated at Quebec immigration money ‘at the expense’ of Western Canada
Trump’s opponents are making effective use of lawfare
If this hush money thing was such a big deal, why did it take 8 years to get to trial? Why not when he was in office, or right afterwards? Why now? Ask yourself that.
Some might accuse Trump’s opponents of specifically holding legal action against him for various alleged misdeeds until such time that he would otherwise be on the campaign trail. Guess what? It’s working.
Eight years ago, Trump made a big deal out of his North Dakota campaign stop. It’s when and where I got to ask him if he would approve the Keystone XL pipeline. This year, Trump’s legal battles kept him from the Williston Basin Petroleum Conference, which I attended two weeks ago. Unfortunately, I’ve been pretty busy, so I haven’t had the time to write this until now. But the timing is fitting, with the trial wrapping up.
Oil and gas isn’t a sunset industry yet, despite what many think
This lithium thing in Saskatchewan is getting real, while U of C sees the light
Lithium in SK, Part 29: Arizona Lithium begins drilling commercial production wells near Torquay
If Arizona Lithium is successful, we will hopefully start producing commercial lithium in Saskatchewan next year. That’s an entirely new resource industry, producing jobs, taxes and royalties.
These are exciting times. EMP Metal and ROK Resources (Hub City Lithium) are doing their pilot plant testing in Estevan. I’ll have a story on that soon. A third company is also at this moment drilling lithium wells in southeast Saskatchewan, and I expect to have a story on that later in the summer. Hopefully today’s story on the start of commercialization is just the first of many!
Please note the early part of the story credits the work done by Ben Rostron, the Saskatchewan Geological Survey, and Gavin Jensen, without which it is unlikely much of anything like this would be happening today. And that is why that recent announcement of $10 million for further research by the survey is so critical.
And also note – every single service company working on this project, as far as I’m aware, works in oil and gas. Without the oil and gas industry, we would not have the start of a lithium industry.
Also:
I’ve written the biographies for the Saskatchewan Oil and Gas Show awards. I haven’t been posting them here because it’s a bit too much insider baseball, but if you’ve driven around any oilfield and seen a bent pumpjack, you can credit this man, Paul Cheung. He and his partners literally changed the Saskatchewan landscape. And along the way he’s owned oil companies, drilling rig companies, and a service rig company.
Finally:
In an incredibly stupid move, the University of Calgary, headquarters of the Canadian oilpatch, stopped new intakes into its petroleum engineering program. Three years later, they realized how dumb that was and reopened the program. Funny thing, I was just talking to some people last week about how dumb this was. Could you imagine if the University of Saskatchewan got rid of its agriculture program? Or UBC got rid of forestry? These are the very foundations of each of those province’s economies. And Alberta has the third largest petroleum reserves ON THE PLANET. But nope, don’t need any more petroleum engineers.
University of Calgary looks to relaunch oil engineering program after hiatus.