Energy

Mackenzie pipeline project faces further setback
By Bruce Nichols, Reuters
February 11, 2009

HOUSTON - Regulatory delays have worsened the odds that the $16.2 billion Mackenzie gas pipeline in Canada's far north will ever be built despite a promise of help from Ottawa, TransCanada Corp's chief executive said Wednesday.

TransCanada CEO Hal Kvisle said he is frustrated that the pipeline, which would carry gas to Canadian and U.S. markets from the Mackenzie Delta on the Beaufort Sea, still does not have clearance to go ahead after years of planning and rising costs.

TransCanada CEO downbeat about Mackenzie line
Wed Feb 11, 2009 8:48pm GMT

By Bruce Nichols

HOUSTON, Feb 11 (Reuters) - Regulatory delays have worsened the odds that the C$16.2 billion ($13 billion) Mackenzie gas pipeline in Canada's far north will ever be built despite a promise of help from Ottawa, TransCanada Corp's (TRP.TO) chief executive said on Wednesday.

Israel Presses for Oil From Shale
With the help of homegrown technology, an Israeli company's proposed energy plant could help the country vastly reduce oil imports
JULY 5, 2006

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.

NDP MP Don Davies drafts bill to ban oil tankers off B.C. coast

By Stephen Hui

*Don Davies*, the NDP MP for Vancouver Kingsway, has drafted legislation to
enshrine in law the federal moratorium that prohibits oil tankers from
plying British Columbia's coastal waters.

"Oil tankers in our coastal waters pose a grave threat to our environment
and sensitive ecosystems," Davies said in a statement e-mailed today
(February 5) to the *Straight*. "The risk of oil spills and damage to our
marine mammals is unacceptable."

In this week's *Straight* cover
story

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.

Alberta serious about oil sands clean up: minister
Strict New Rules

By Darcy Henton and Dan Healing, Canwest News
February 4, 2009

Alberta's energy minister says strict new rules governing oil sands tailings ponds will show the world that Alberta is serious about cleaning up the province's oil sands developments.

"I think the market community internationally [is] going to see that the province of Alberta and this government are very serious about how we move forward with ... development that's environmentally friendly," said Mel Knight.

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.

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.