Economics

Airport expansion plan set to take off
http://www.fortmcmurraytoday.com/Local%20News/326841.html
Stories by SARAH FOX
Today staff
Friday July 27, 2007

The Fort McMurray airport is bursting at the seams as it welcomes 580,000 passengers a year through its doors.
This is twice the number the terminal was meant to accommodate when it was built in 1986.
Officials are currently planning an $80- to $100-million airport expansion which will include building a second runway and possibly an entirely new terminal building, said airport CEO Darryl Wightman.

This news article below shows, once again, that taking out the ability to construct pipelines to send oil and and bring gas (x2) in is a viable strategy for the cessation of the tar pits expansion. In other words, our fights against the Keystone, Alberta Clipper and North-Central Corridor, along with the Mackenzie Gas Project and Enbridge Gateway (among so many more!) all slow down the speed of flowing mock crude to a bottleneck pace.

Record gas prices not curbing drivers
By Associated Press // July 21, 2007
http://www.pantagraph.com/articles/2007/07/21/money/doc46a2c55c375cf8724...

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Record-high prices for gasoline this year haven’t dampened U.S. drivers’ demand for fuel, an industry trade group said last week.

Drivers consumed a record 9.2 million barrels, or 388 million gallons, of gasoline on average every day during the first half of the year, up 1.5 percent from last year’s levels, the American Petroleum Institute said in its midyear review of fuel statistics.

Vacationers spending $500 on one-day oilsands tour
Last Updated: Wednesday, July 25, 2007 | 8:31 PM NT
CBC News
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/newfoundland-labrador/story/2007/07/25/travel-a...

Forget fall leaf tours or autumn days on a cottage dock — vacationers are signing up for a September trip to frolic in Alberta's oilsands.

Classic Canadian Tours will fly passengers from Calgary to Fort McMurray to get a first-hand glimpse of what is driving the province's economy.

Shell rakes in profits from Canadian tar-sands unit: Times of London
By London Bureau
Last Update: 6:31 AM ET Jul 27, 2007
http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/shell-rakes-profits-canadian-oil-s...

LONDON (MarketWatch) -- The world's dirtiest oil is producing the highest profit per barrel for Royal Dutch Shell PLC (RDSA.LN), which yesterday said it would begin to report the earnings of its controversial Canadian oil sands operations as a separate business unit, the Times of London reports Friday.

Alberta building unions threaten oil sands strike
Tue Jul 24, 2007 1:27 PM EDT

By Scott Haggett

CALGARY, Alberta (Reuters) - Five Alberta construction unions have voted in favor of their first strike in a quarter of a century as they seek higher wages and improved working conditions at a slate of multibillion-dollar oil sands projects.

Electricians, boilermakers, plumbers and pipefitters, millwrights, and refrigeration mechanics have approved a strike and 72-hour notice could be served as soon as Wednesday, though a quick walk-off is not yet certain, an analyst said.

EDMONTON SUN

By NICKI THOMAS, SPECIAL TO SUN MEDIA

A heavily guarded Ed Stelmach served pancakes to a crowd of early risers at yesterday's Premier's Capital Ex Breakfast.

Two weeks after an attempted pie attack at the Calgary Stampede, a beefed-up security team ensured a similar incident wasn't possible.

Plainclothes security staff as well as bicycle cops and uniformed sheriffs kept an eye on the crowd as Stelmach shook hands and spoke with visitors.

$100 Oil Price May Be Months Away, Say CIBC, Goldman (Update1)
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aYjwn7IqTlHQ&refer=home
By Mark Shenk

July 23 (Bloomberg) -- The $100-a-barrel oil that Goldman Sachs Group Inc. said would prevail by 2009 may be only a few months away.

Labour Pool Will Continue To Be Stretched As More Projects Come On Board
By Paul Wells //July 23 2007
http://www.dobmagazine.nickles.com/article.asp?article=%5Cdob%5C070723%5...

The shear volume and complexity of large-scale projects planned or occurring in the oilsands combined with booming construction in other sectors in Alberta will only increase the strain on an already stretched labour pool, PennWell Corporation's oil sands and heavy oil technologies conference heard last week.

Caterpillar's forecast good for names like Churchill and Finning
http://communities.canada.com/nationalpost/blogs/tradingdesk/archive/200...

Weakness in North American construction markets may have driven a weaker-than-expected second quarter at Caterpillar Inc. (CAT/NYSE), but the heavy equipment maker’s positive demand outlook for its products in Canada may bode well for infrastructure companies north of the border.