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.
CN plans 'pipeline on rail' to oil sands
Diane Francis, Financial Post
Wednesday, April 08, 2009
CN could gear up its capacity to ship by rail up to four million barrels a day of oil at less cost and more quickly, bypassing the need to finance huge pipelines.Courtesy of CNCN could gear up its capacity to ship by rail up to four million barrels a day of oil at less cost and more quickly, bypassing the need to finance huge pipelines.
Former oilsands exec named head of climate working group
By Glen McGregor , The Ottawa Citizen
April 7, 2009
OTTAWA — The Harper government has named a former oil and gas industry executive who led a company active in the Alberta oilsands as a representative on a U.S.-Canada working group on clean energy.
Charlie Fischer, who until recently served as president and chief executive officer of Calgary-based Nexen Inc., will head up one of three working groups with American counterparts as part of the Clean Energy Dialogue, Environment Minister Jim Prentice has confirmed.
Total: May Delay Joslyn Oil Sands Proj Decision To Cut Costs
* APRIL 6, 2009, 1:17 P.M. ET
OTTAWA (Dow Jones)--Total SA (TOT) may delay its investment decision for the proposed C$9 billion Joslyn oil sands mine in northern Alberta by a few months as it looks to cut project costs, the company said Monday.
The French oil major holds a 74% interest in the oft-stalled development and had previously intended to make a go-ahead decision in early 2010.
Energy giants lose interest in Alberta carbon capture fund
Last Updated: Thursday, April 2, 2009
The Canadian Press
Some of the biggest players in Alberta's oilsands have dropped out of the running to be part of the province's $2 billion carbon capture and storage fund.
Nine companies, including Suncor Energy, Syncrude Canada Ltd., and ConocoPhillips Canada, are no longer interested in sending the province proposals for carbon capture and storage projects. A total of 20 companies were chosen by the province in November to apply for the fund.
Province hires Washington lobbyists
Updated: Sat Apr. 04 2009
ctvcalgary.ca
The province has hired Washington lobbyists to pitch the oil patch to Alberta's biggest customer.
"There is so much at stake for Alberta and we will be applying the full-court press. Not only on elected officials but also on the U.S. administration," says Premier Ed Stelmach.
The move comes as the American government is under increasing pressure to invest in and purchase green energy.
Stelmach says many don't realize how clean Alberta's oil sands are and that's why he's enlisting the help of lobbyists.
Nexen, Opti Canada May Be Targeted in Oil-Sands Deals
By Joe Carroll
April 3 (Bloomberg) -- Nexen Inc. and Opti Canada Inc. may be among Canadian oil companies targeted for takeovers as a price collapse triggers a rush by larger producers to amass holdings in the biggest crude deposits outside Saudi Arabia.
Vanoc expects no profit in 2010 Games with economic slump
The organizers of the 2010 Winter Olympics no longer expect to leave a
financial surplus for future sport development.
The same worldwide economic downturn that has bankrupted companies and
left tens of thousands of people without jobs has also eaten up — for
now — any potential Olympic profit, John Furlong, the head of the
Vancouver Organizing Committee, said Wednesday.
Furlong said Vanoc is struggling just to make sure it breaks even when
the Games end next year.
Stephen Harper announces cancellation of Earth Day
By rabble staff | April 1, 2009
LONDON, UK -- "Canada, among all the advanced countries, is best positioned to prosper and profit from the ecological crisis," announced Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper shortly after arriving for the opening of the G20 summit.
Wed, April 1, 2009
Fowl fatal figure flap
Syncrude reveals duck tragedy triple initial toll - which it and province knew in July
By KERRY DIOTTE, LEGISLATURE BUREAU CHIEF
Province knew in July the real toll at the tailings pond.
Syncrude and the Alberta government knew nine months ago that three times as many ducks died in an oilsands tailings pond than initially reported - but officials didn't make the higher death toll public until yesterday.
Becoming No. 1: Suncor's story
March 23, 2009
CBC News
If the deal goes down, one of the first companies to pull oil from the sticky tar sands of Alberta is about to become Canada's biggest energy company and the fifth-largest in North America.
Suncor and Petro-Canada plan a merger that would give the company a market capitalization of $43.3-billion US. For comparison, energy giants Exxon Mobil and ConocoPhillips are worth about $326.6 billion and $55.97 billion, respectively.
What is Suncor?
