Economics

Northern pipelines at mercy of global energy prices, experts say
Last Updated: Tuesday, February 12, 2008 | 3:05 PM CT
CBC News

Natural gas pipelines being proposed in the North may never be built at this point if global energy consumers can instead import liquefied natural gas from other sources around the world at cheaper prices, experts say.

Projects like the Mackenzie pipeline in the Northwest Territories and the North Slope pipeline down the Alaska Highway have been in the planning stages for decades, with Mackenzie pipeline proponents waiting for regulatory approvals.

How Crude
Midwest refineries source more crude from tar sands; emissions will rise
Posted at 12:39 PM on 12 Feb 2008

Conoco content with current oil sands position
Wed Feb 13, 2008 10:54am EST

HOUSTON, Feb 13 (Reuters) - The head of ConocoPhillips (COP.N: Quote, Profile, Research) in Canada said on Wednesday the company is content with its oil sands position and has no current plans for expansion.

"We have a substantial resource position, and at this time, we're focused on developing that resource position," Kevin Meyers, president of ConocoPhillips Canada, told reporters after a CERA conference breakfast meeting.

Canadian Natural Resources Ltd, the company that is already using Temporary Foreign Worker labour from behind fences to construct their massive "Horizon" project, is one of the biggest anti-union, pro mining, and generally reactionary, "cost-cutting" corporations already deep at work in the tar pits. These projections are released in order to soften up an audience to their desire to ramp up TFW's, for one-- also this is a set up for further de-regulation and more.

Associated Press February 10, 2008

Chavez Threatens to Halt Oil Sales to US

Venezuelan President Threatens to Cut Off Oil Sales to US, Calls Exxon Mobil
'Outlaws'

By Sandra Sierra, Associated Press Writer

Caracas, Venezuela (AP) -- President Hugo Chavez on Sunday threatened to cut
off oil sales to the United States in an "economic war" if Exxon Mobil Corp.
wins court judgments to seize billions of dollars in Venezuelan assets.

Exxon Mobil has gone after the assets of state oil company Petroleos de
Venezuela SA in U.S., British and Dutch courts as it challenges the

Dirty oil tricks
Peter Foster, Financial Post Published: Saturday, February 09, 2008

So much for any suggestion that press baron Rupert Murdoch is a right-wing dinosaur, or that his media empire is out of step with the eco-zeitgeist. First he announces that News Corp. will become "carbon neutral" by 2010. Now his flagship British organ, The Times of London, has started crusading against Alberta 's oilsands.

Chiefs want pipeline royalties
By Paul Turenne

A group of southern Manitoba chiefs is asking the federal court to overturn Ottawa’s decision to allow a massive pipeline project to be built in the province because the chiefs say the government did not fulfill its duty to consult them about it.

TransCanada’s Keystone pipeline project, approved by the National Energy Board and the federal cabinet last fall, would pump more than half a million barrels of oil per day from Alberta to Illinois and Oklahoma.

Native bands ask court to block pipeline Updated at 4:41 PM
By Mary Agnes Welch

Some Manitoba bands have asked the court to quash a plan to build an oil pipeline through southern Manitoba, saying the federal government failed to consult with First Nations or offer compensation.

We'll pay for Suncor expansion
Feb 09, 2008 04:30 AM
Cameron Smith

Turning a blind eye is supposed to be a bad thing, because you live a lie. You act as if you didn't know.

In Canada, we do this every day. Some make a lot of money at it. Others believe – in a mad, schizophrenic way – that it's a formula for prosperity.

Last week there was a prime example of turning a blind eye. The business press carried stories that Suncor Energy Inc. is planning to expand its oil sands operations in northern Alberta, at a cost of $20 billion.

Enbridge makes pipeline progress
(News) Saturday, 09 February 2008, 01:00 PST
GORDON HOEKSTRA Citizen staff

Enbridge says it has secured third-party funding to advance the regulatory process of its proposed $4-billion pipeline project through northern B.C., which would open up the possibility of shipping Alberta oilsands oil to markets in Asia.

The company included the third-party funding information as part of an update on projects under development released in year-end financial results, a $636 million profit for 2007.