Economics

February 9, 2009
Q&A: Energy Independence, Obama and Canada’s Oil Sands
By John Lorinc

“There are two perspectives on the oil sands,” the author Andrew
Nikiforuk says. “You have companies that want to make it the next
Saudi Arabia. The other is that it’s a transitional resource to a low-
carbon economy.”

Andrew Nikiforuk, a journalist based in Calgary, has closely followed
the development of northern Alberta’s massive deposits of bitumen — a
heavy black oil impregnating the sand and soil over hundreds of square
miles northeast of Edmonton.

VANCOUVER 2010: 'IT'S NOT A GAME'
Poverty Olympics spotlight Downtown Eastside
February 9, 2009

VANCOUVER -- They have their own Olympic mascots - Itchy the Bedbug, Creepy the Cockroach and Chewy the Rat - their own torch, made from a toilet plunger, and a catchy marketing phrase: "End poverty. It's not a game."

But what the Poverty Olympics doesn't have is money - and that was the main point being underscored yesterday by a celebration/protest march through the Downtown Eastside.

Syncrude faces charges over death of ducks
By Scott Haggett
Feb 9, 2009.

CALGARY, Alberta (Reuters) - The province of Alberta and the Canadian laid charges against the Syncrude Canada Ltd joint venture after 500 ducks died after landing on a tailings pond at its oil sands operation in April.

The province alleges Syncrude, the world's biggest oil sands producer, failed to have appropriate deterrents in place to keep the ducks from landing on the toxic waste-water pond.

Imperial backs oil sands

$3.88B profit helps drive Kearl project

By Claudia Cattaneo, Calgary Bureau Chief, Financial Post
January 30, 2009

In the thick of the global economic downturn, Imperial Oil Ltd., Canada's largest oil company, posted another record annual profit and said it's increasing spending by 60% this year as it moves forward with the Kearl oil sands project.

UTS Energy Rejects Total’s Offer as ‘Inadequate’
By Jim Polson

Feb. 9 (Bloomberg) -- UTS Energy Corp.’s board said Total SA’s C$617 million ($506 million) offer for the Canadian oil- sands explorer is “inadequate” and recommended shareholders reject the bid by Europe’s third-largest petroleum company.

The board formed a special committee to “pursue various initiatives with the objective of maximizing value for all shareholders,” Calgary-based UTS said today in a statement.

Foreign workers sacked from Olympics site

* Published: 02 February 2009 09:18

The police have arrested 136 illegal workers on the Olympic Park
site in Stratford, East London, in the nine months from April to
December 2008.

Of the 136 people arrested on suspicion of working in the UK without
permission 16 have been prosecuted, of which 11 were removed from the UK.

A further 19 workers have been granted leave to remain in the UK based
on new applications to the Home Office.

The remainder either have applications awaiting decisions or are

Petrocan CEO is on the hot seat
Andrew Willis,
February 2, 2009

Welcome to the hot seat, Ron Brenneman.

Petro-Canada's CEO faces a full-scale shareholder revolt in coming weeks, as the much-watched Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan leads a campaign for better performance from the former Crown corporation.

Mr. Brenneman must defend a strategy that's seen Petrocan build a diverse collection of assets, a number of which are yielding relatively low returns, at a time when rivals for focusing their operations.

Football Field Sized Trucks Head to Canadian Tar Sands with Superloads
Written by Jennifer Lance
February 1st, 2009

People in Montana have been noticing some big rigs on their highways, really big rigs.

Special trucks the size of a football field are carrying equipment cargo in “superloads” to the Canadian Tar Sands for oil extraction.

The Billings Gazette reports on the massive size of the trucks:

Low oil prices force Devon writedown
Us$6.8B Loss; Will continue oil sands development
Claudia Cattaneo, Calgary Bureau Chief,
Financial Post
February 05, 2009

Low oil prices at the end of December forced U. S. oil and gas producer Devon Energy Corp. to write down all its thermal oil sands assets in Alberta, contributing to a loss of US$6.82-billion in the fourth quarter, the largest in its history.

CERI warns on Alberta oil sands investment
Claudia Cattaneo, Financial Post
February 05, 2009

CALGARY -- The global credit crunch and collapse of oil prices have cancelled the Alberta oil sands boom, resulting in a loss in investment of $97-billion to $241-billion in the next decade that will be felt throughout the Canadian economy, the Canadian Energy Research Institute said in a report Thursday.