Energy and how it is captured and consumed is barely viable in tar sands production. While the amount of oil in places such as the tar sands in Alberta or the Orinoco Belt in Venezuela may have deposits of similar size to the reserves of countries such as Saudi Arabia or Iraq, the return of new energy after expending energy in production is not even close. In Iraq, the process of using one barrel of oil generates 100 new barrels. In the tar sands, estimates of 3 to 1 and even as low as 1.5 to 1 have been made. Offsetting the net energy loss would require minimally 25-30 tar sands facilities for one Saudi plant operating at the same capacity.
China's unquenchable thirst for oil
Despite recession, the Chinese are aggressively pursuing energy assets
Shawn McCarthy and Eric Reguly
Ottawa, Rome — Globe and Mail
Jun. 27, 2009
A refinery in Singapore. Oil and gas fields in Central Asia. A pipeline in Russia. Ultradeep crude deposits off Brazil. Production wells in Libya.
And now Toronto-listed Addax Petroleum Corp., (AXC-T49.930.180.36%) with its oil fields in western Africa and Iraq's Kurdistan.
Opti's parent corporation is Ormat, the Israeli corporation that developed "orcrude"-- otherwise known in Alberta as "co-generation"-- burning the waste gunk from the bottom of a barrel of tar sands bitumen to provide energy. This would eventually be used in much of historical Palestine to develop oil shale and has been using the Long Lake plant as a laboratory to make this production happen. Long Lake officially went commercial in October of last year.
--M
OPTI sticks to plan to raise cash
DAVID EBNER // VANCOUVER
Globe and Mail
Jun. 27, 2009
Keystone pipeline: Gold mine or environmental disaster?
By WESLEY P. JAMES
The governor wants the pipeline for the jobs, county commissioners want the pipeline for the property taxes and local businesses want the pipeline for the economic activity generated by the construction and operation of the pipeline.
Which Matters Most? The Size of the Tap or the Tank?
Scitizen // Kurt Cobb
22 Jun, 2009
Energy optimists are fond of citing very large numbers for worldwide fossil fuel resources such as oil and natural gas. But they conveniently leave out the critical variable. How fast can we actually produce these resources?
Investment not worth the spills
Smithers Interior News
June 24, 2009
Editor:
Christine Ogryzlo, from the Smithers Exploration Group, suggests in her letter that we should allow Enbridge to bring tar sands pipelines and super crude oil tankers to our coast to show that we support development in this region, acknowledging that it won’t bring about many jobs. That’s a pretty high-risk way to send a message.
Alaska pipeline steals the show
Guy Quenneville
Northern News Services
Published Monday, June 22, 2009
INUVIK - The ninth Inuvik Petroleum Show just couldn't catch a break.
Last year, attendees of the annual oil and gas trade show - though high on news that BP Energy had bid more than $1 billion for a parcel of offshore land in the Beaufort Sea - operated under the shadow of the Joint Review Panel, whose report on the environmental and socio-economic impacts of the $16.2 billion Mackenzie Gas Project (MGP) was still nowhere to be seen.
Enbridge to Develop Pipeline System for Kearl Project
By Joe Carroll
June 22 (Bloomberg) -- Enbridge Inc., the biggest transporter of oil from Canada’s tar sands, plans to build a pipeline to haul crude from Exxon Mobil Corp.’s C$8 billion ($7 billion) Kearl project in northern Alberta to Edmonton.
The first phase will connect the Kearl oil-sands site north of Fort McMurray, Alberta, to Enbridge’s Cheecham terminal near Nexen Inc.’s Long Lake development, Paula Leslie, an Enbridge spokeswoman, said today in a telephone interview.
Alberta's oil sands show signs of life
Katherine O'Neill, and Dawn Walton
Globe and Mail, Monday, Jun. 22, 2009
Unlimited overtime pay was just one of the many perks John Halbauer enjoyed as a welder during Alberta's super-sized energy boom.
That's disappeared, along with 11 of the 25-year-old's 13 co-workers who got laid-off in January. “I was worried. I didn't know if I was going to have to move back home or what,” the Kimberley, B.C., native said.
Pipeline proposal raises vexing questions
Written by Jeannette Paterson
Prince George
Thursday, 18 June 2009
Wanting to get a better sense of how or if the Enbridge pipeline would benefit the majority of British Columbians, I looked back at the Thomas Berger Inquiry held in the 1970s regarding the Mackenzie Delta natural gas pipeline.
It was, of course, recommended that a 10-year moratorium be put in place until the aboriginal people living in the area had completed their land claims and then, from a position of ownership and power, the project could be revisited.
What’s the Real Story Behind the Alaska Pipeline?
Written by Ruedigar Matthes
Published on June 18th, 2009
Posted in Climate Change, Editor's Choice, Natural Resources
With the spotlight shining on clean energy, the stage has been set for the U.S. to rid itself of a harmful addiction to foreign oil. The stars are aligned and the cards have been dealt. Soon we’ll have kicked the dirty habit, right?
