CAGC

Blair King - Environmental Scientist Published: The Blog - Huffpost British Columbia On July 27 I will be attending the   Trans Mountain Expansion Project (TMX) Ministerial Panel   Public Open House   in Langley. If I get a chance this is what I intend to say: I am here today not to speak directly in support of the TMX but rather to clear up some misconceptions and talking points you have heard, and will hear, at this open house. Let's start with the elephant in the room: climate change. Let's be frank, climate change is real, it is dangerous and we, as a country, have to do more to fight climate change. That being said climate change is a red herring in this discussion. Why? Because   up to 80 per cent of the emissions associated with fossil fuels   are generated in their combustion. Pipelines represent a negligible part of that equation and the upstream numbers for Canadian producers are entirely comparable to our American counterparts. Carbon emiss...

Publisher: Scott Jeffrey Energy Processing Canada It has become more or less a tradition, if you can characterize anything going back to 2005 in such a way. The North American Leader's Summit, or the Tree Amigos, started when Vicente Fax, George W. Bush, and Paul Martin (remember Paul?) decided to get together. Back then, they called it the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America, but the press soon shortened it to the moniker we all use today. It has been held ever since, with the exception of a 2015 cancellation by Stephen Harper because of Barack Obama's stubbornness over the Keystone Pipeline. Of course, our snub didn't do any good, as Obama failed to endorse KXL regardless of our "powerful" message. There have been other sore points, with Mexican outrage over our imposition of visa requirements, and the restriction of Canadian beef imports to Mexico. For the most part though, the meeting has been a series of photo ops in often luxurious a...

Contributed by the Chief Geophysicists Forum Published: Daily Oil Bulletin The role of geophysics in the industry is a robustly debated subject these days. As our industry continues to evolve in order to meet challenges brought on by unconventional resources, changing supply and demand factors, environmental drivers, and legislative and tax regime changes — just to name a few — all aspects of our industry are under scrutiny. Nobody wants to spend money or do anything that cannot be immediately assessed for the value it adds. It is under this scrutiny that geophysicists could perhaps be forgiven for periodic existential anxiety. Geophysicists are an important part of the group of professionals who work together on the value adding process of looking for and producing hydrocarbon reserves. Understanding and communication of our respective roles and contributions in that process is urgently required. At its essence, geophysics has developed as the most cost effective method of sa...

By: Steve Lafleur, Ben Eisen and Charles Lammam, The Fraser Institue Published: The Roughneck Buy & Sell Alberta is typically thought of as a low-tax jurisdiction in Canada. That's largely true. However, Alberta's tax advantage will likely shrink in the future with a recent onslaught of tax increases - some already implemented, some soon to come. But even today, the tax burden isn't all that light. In 2016, the average Alberta family will pay $47,752 in total taxes. That's 37.4 percent of its annual income ($127,822) going to provincial, federal and local taxes. One way to put the size of this tax bill into context is to consider a hypothetical scenario where, this year, the average Alberta family paid its total annual tax bill upfront. Under these circumstances, it would give government every dollar it earned up to May 16. In other words, May 17 was Tax Freedom Day in Alberta. It's only after four and a half months of the year that Alberta families final...

By: Pierre Alvarez Published: Daily Oil Bulletin Over recent weeks the Daily Oil Bulletin has talked to five high-profile, experienced and well-known oil and gas sector leaders about the current downturn. Is it different than others in recent memory? What will the outcome be? What is the best path, as an industry in Western Canada, going forward? An article on Peter Tertzakian   appeared on Monday , one on Roger Soucy   appeared on Tuesday   and one on Charlie Fischer   appeared on Wednesday . Today: Pierre Alvarez. With over three decades of senior management experience in the Canadian oil, natural gas, pipeline and electricity sectors, nothing much surprises   Pierre Alvarez   when it comes to the inherent ebbs and flows of Canada’s energy industry. In fact it’s safe to say Alvarez, whose resume includes nine years as president of the   Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers   (CAPP) from June 1999 to September 2008, has pretty mu...

By: Gwyn Morgan Published in : JWN Don't be fooled by the claims of the pro-electric car camp – our best bet for low-emissions vehicles is still natural gas Does the car of the future really need to be electric to be environmentally responsible?   On a recent trip to Hawaii, the car service sent a beautiful Tesla to pick us up at the airport. The driver told us how proud he was to be driving a “zero-emissions” vehicle. This prompted me to ask him what powers the car? When he replied “electricity,” I asked how that electricity was generated. Looking at the windmills on the ridges above us, he said, “Those windmills I guess.” I informed him that Hawaii’s hundred-plus windmills generate only five per cent of the state’s power. The other 95 per cent comes from carbon emissions-intensive diesel-fueled power plants. Then I explained that each time an energy source is changed to another form, an efficiency loss occurs. The largest loss comes when the diesel is burned in the po...