Economics drive tar sands operations. Record highs in oil prices, though still fluctuating, will make tar sand oil ‘economical’ (read: profitable) well into the future. Government subsidies to this environmentally disastrous process remain in place from a time when the federal government was sponsoring research into the possibility of recovering this oil. Stock prices of tar sands developers grow the more conventional oil is scarce.
Canadian Natural's Horizon producing above capacity
Wed Jul 8, 2009 3:52pm EDT
CALGARY, Alberta, July 8 (Reuters) - Canadian Natural Resources Ltd (CNQ.TO) has been ramping up production at its new Horizon oil sands project, recently seeing output of up to 120,000 barrels per day, a rate above the project's official capacity, the company's vice-chairman said on Wednesday.
West Coast oilsands exports at record
Shipments open new markets for Alberta crude
By Shaun Polczer, Calgary Herald
July 9, 2009
CALGARY - Exports of oilsands via tanker ships off the West Coast hit an all-time high this spring, the head of the only pipeline company to cross the Rocky Mountains said in Calgary Wednesday.
Chinese firms say they don't owe Alberta oilsands worker any wages
Canadian Press
By John Cotter
July 10 / 2009
EDMONTON — Companies linked to a Chinese energy giant say they don't owe any wages to a man who was employed as a temporary foreign worker at an Alberta oilsands project.
He is one of 132 Chinese men who worked at Canadian Natural Resources Ltd.'s Horizon project in 2007. The Alberta government says the workers are owed $3 million in missing wages.
Shell May Close or Sell Montreal East Oil Refinery
By Guy Collins
July 9 (Bloomberg) -- Royal Dutch Shell Plc may close or sell its Montreal East refinery in Quebec, Canada, among various options it’s considering for the plant as part of a global review of assets.
Possibilities include the sale of the refinery and some associated downstream businesses; closure of the plant; conversion into a terminal; establishment of a joint venture; or continued operation, a Shell spokesman said today by telephone, declining to be identified in line with company policy.
ICC approves oil pipeline, not eminent domain
By Jeffrey Tomich
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
07/09/2009
The Illinois Commerce Commission will allow the construction of a 170-mile oil pipeline that will deliver crude from Canada's oil sands to a storage hub about an hour east of St. Louis.
But regulators said it was premature to give the Calgary-based developer, Enbridge Inc., authority to use eminent domain to acquire an easement for the project if it cannot negotiate an agreement with landowners.
Globe and Mail July 6, 2009
Calls grow to supplant dollar as global currency
France joins China, India and Russia in calling for a new reserve standard on the eve of the G8 summit
Karim Bardeesy
The call to find an alternative to the U.S dollar as the global reserve currency is gaining momentum as France joined calls by China, India and Russia for a review of the world's currency practices.
French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde challenged the dollar's supremacy “in a world that has changed because of the crisis and the growing role of emerging countries.”
53 charges for CNRL, contractors
CAROL CHRISTIAN
Today staff
Following a record 53 charges laid against three companies for a 2007 accident that killed two workers at the oilsands work site, the Alberta Federation of Labour blames the provincial government for not being more vigilant to prevent such a tragedy.
Alberta Occupational Health and Safety (OH&S) announced 53 charges yesterday in connection to the April 24, 2007, accident that also injured four other workers, two seriously, at the Canadian Natural Resources Horizon project, about 75 kilometres north of Fort McMurray.
Little hope in the pipeline
Repeated delays of Mackenzie Valley gas pipeline have Inuvik seeing red
By Claudia Cattaneo, Financial Post
July 2, 2009
Inuvik, N.W.T. -- The conversation in this town of 3,500 in the Western Arctic should be about aboriginal self-sufficiency, environmentally responsible Northern development and a new clean-energy storehouse with immense potential. After all, the proposed $16.2-billion Mackenzie Valley natural-gas pipeline project was supposed to be under construction by now.
** Community and Public Health Advocates Halt Chevron Refinery Expansion
_________________________________________________
For Immediate Release: July 2, 2009
Contact:
Will Rostov, Earthjustice, (510) 550-6725
Torm Nompraseurt, Asian Pacific Environmental Network, (510) 323-5245
Greg Karras, Communities for a Better Environment, (415) 902-2666
Henry Clark, West County Toxics Coalition, (510) 232-3427
Community and Public Health Advocates Halt Chevron Refinery Expansion at
Richmond, CA
Martinez, CA – Contra Costa County Superiior Court Judge Barbara Zuniga has
Shell: Shifting Sands
From Canadian Business magazine, July 20, 2009
How Shell lost the goodwill of stakeholders.
