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Showing posts from November, 2017

The strange geopolitics of rising oil prices

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By: H.T. Published: The Economist Why oil is at a two-year high A STRANGE paradox underpins the recent rise in the price of oil to around $60 a barrel, its highest level in two years. On the one hand, it partly reflects optimism that when producers from the OPEC cartel meet in Vienna on November 30th they will extend an agreement with non-OPEC producers such as Russia to keep output under restraint until late next year. On the other hand, it partly reflects the fear that regional tensions between Saudi Arabia and fellow OPEC members Iran and Qatar could degenerate to such a degree that they disrupt supply from the world’s biggest oil-producing region. Such are the tensions within OPEC, according to Reuters, that Gulf oil officials have stopped using a WhatsApp chat group that used to be a useful co-ordination tool. So is it feasible to imagine that people who cannot bear talking to each other via social media can still agree to onerous production cuts that are vital to keepi

A Look Back to Looking Forward

By Rod Garland 100 years ago in October and November of 1917, four divisions of the Canadian Corps took turns assaulting Passchendaele ridge in Belgium during WW1. After separate attacks , t hey succeeded in capturing it and the ruins of Passchendaele village from exhausted German defenders. The battle that had dragged on for months was one of the deadliest in terms of losses on both sides, but showed the rest of the world how Canadian resolve, spirit and resourcefulness could get the job done. This week the World Energy Outlook 2017 (WEO-2017) was released by the International Energy Agency (IEA). It is the annual update of energy demand and supply projections to the year 2040, with reports under different scenarios, and their consequences for energy security, economic prosperity, efficiency, investment, air quality and climate change. The highlights are that the global energy landscape is changing and the rate of change will likely vary over the coming decades

Red tape chasing investors away from Alberta's energy industry

By Kenneth P. Green, Elmira Aliakbari and Ashley Stedman - The Fraser Institute Published: Fort Nelson News          TransCanada Corp. recently pulled the plug on Energy East, its proposed 1.1-million-barrel-per-day oil pipeline between Alberta and New Brunswick, a month after the company said it would conduct a "careful review" of the cost impacts of changes in National Energy Board regulations.          It was the latest in a chain of bad news for Canada's energy industry, and further evidence that Canada's growing regulatory barriers may be damaging our investment climate.          Plunging oil prices and the approval of competing pipelines such as Keystone XL certainly contributed to the cancellation of Energy East.          But governments, by continuing to pile on new taxes and create unclear regulations, are killing existing projects and driving investment away from Canada.          A 2016 Fraser Institute survey of energy executives and managers found

The Future for Pipelines in Alberta

By: Rod Garland - CAGC Member Services The Future for Pipelines in Alberta The Alberta Enterprise Group recently held a panel discussion in Calgary to analyse the demise of the Energy East pipeline and discuss what it could mean for the future of energy infrastructure and investment in Canada. Who are the Alberta Energy Group? Formed in 2007, they are comprised of business leaders who advocate and lobby to improve the prosperity of Alberta as a place to live and conduct business. Their role is to communicate the benefits of doing business in Alberta; to positively inform the public and policy makers on complex and challenging issues facing the province and the country; and create real change as the community requires. AEG member companies employ over 150,000 Albertans and generate billions in economic activity each year. The Chairman and founding member is Murray Edwards also Chairman of CNRL. The panel included Dennis McConaghy – Former Executive VP, Corporate D