Nov 8, 2018 - This report analyzes the economics of the five largest bitumen-extractive corporations in Canada. The “Big Five” are Suncor Energy, Canadian Natural Resources Limited (CNRL), Cenovus Energy, Imperial Oil, and Husky Energy. We examine the key features of the five firms and analyze their accumulation dynamics in the context of the latest commodity cycle: boom (2004–2014), bust (2014–2016), and restructuring and consolidation (2015 onward).
Alberta Premier Rachel Notley is proposing Ottawa get into the crude-by-rail business — at least temporarily — so that producers in her province can get a better price for their oil.
“We are in the midst of putting together a specific business case that we'll be taking to the federal government late this week, early next week, where we lay out the specific costs,'' Notley said Monday following a meeting with energy industry leaders in Calgary.
One week ago, the price American refineries will pay for a barrel of Alberta bitumen fell to just below US$30. A seismic jolt raced through the tar sands/oil sands industry, because that price would barely allow even the biggest, most profitable operators to recover operating costs.
[Webside editor: Watch Tzeporah Berman's speach to the Alberta Teachers Conference here.]
To invest in Alberta’s oil industry, or back away slowly, was the question at the crux of a rift between Alberta Premier Rachel Notley and environmentalist and policy adviser Tzeporah Berman last weekend.
Last August 29 was not just a ‘wake up and smell the coffee’ moment for federal and Alberta politicians pushing to accelerate future tar sands/oil sands expansion plans.
It was a morning where the coffee urn figuratively tipped over and bestowed third-degree burns.
From the lack of available pipeline capacity to the potential adoption of electric cars, there is no shortage of threats facing the Canadian oilsands. But the latest menace lies in a seemingly innocuous and highly common element: sulphur.
In a big win for the City of Portland, Oregon, the Oregon Court of Appeals issued a ruling that the city had not violated the U.S. Constitution's Commerce Clause by voting to ban any new fossil fuel terminals within its borders.
June 20, 2018 - It has been a few weeks since the Canadian government’s stunning announcement that it would buy the embattled Trans Mountain pipeline and expansion project from
Kinder Morgan for C$4.5 billion. Since then, hundreds (if not thousands) of articles, news stories, analysis, satire and commentary pieces have been produced. In this blog post we try to
answer some of the most common questions we’ve received about the purchase, and what it means moving forward.