CAGC

By: Carter Haydu, Daily Oil Bulletin Coming off the tail end of a relatively lacklustre 2013-14, seismic acquisition companies can expect a similarly soft season ahead in Western Canada, say industry representatives. “There has been one merger completed and another merger that is imminent, but even with the mergers happening there is still minimal work available for crews in Canada,” Forrest Burkholder , general manager at SAExploration Holdings Inc. , told the Bulletin . He added: “2014 was mediocre at best and 2015 is looking like it is going to be similar or slightly worse.” According to Burkholder, lack of market access for producers is limiting exploration, which means companies are focusing on developing current assets with infrastructure and available markets already in place, which is largely reducing the work available for seismic firms. “I would certainly think the pipeline issue is impacting all Canadian energy service sectors,” he said, adding that many oil and g...

By: David Yager, National Leader, Oilfield Services MNP Oilfield Services News We should all think our luck stars our industry got a few interprovincial oil and gas pipelines built before they became the political issue of the day. There was a time – decades ago regrettably - when people were happy to have the jobs and economic activity associated with pipeline construction. No longer.  With lots written about Keystone XL, Northern Gateway and increasingly Kinder Morgan TransMountain, it is now time to put the public and media focus on Energy East. OFS New predicts getting this pipeline approved will also not be easy.  Energy East is the all-Canadian plan to get Alberta crude to Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick and the Atlantic Ocean. It involves switching the flow of one of TransCanada’s underutilized legacy natural gas pipelines from gas to oil. If completed, one day the $12 billion project (today’s estimate) could carry 1.1 million barrels of day of oil to new mark...

By: The Canadian Press, from EnergyNow WASHINGTON - It didn't take the Canadian government long to note the far-reaching policy implications of the Republican wave in Tuesday's midterm U.S. elections. It swept the party to power in both chambers of Congress. And it carried into state races, where Republicans were flirting with an 82-year-old party record for most governorships. And it left President Barack Obama wobbling with the unwanted distinction of most seats lost throughout a presidency since the Second World War. But, as Jason Kenney noted, it also held potential implications for the Canadian economy — having, just maybe, created the winning conditions for a certain long-delayed oil pipeline. "Good news for Canadian jobs & economy," the employment minister tweeted. "It looks like the new US Senate will have the 60+ votes needed to ensure that Keystone XL is approved." He could be right. The impact on Keystone XL is just one of countle...

By: Frank Atkins, Business in Calgary Magazine Before he became a senator, Mike Duffy was the host of a news television show on the CTV network. I was a guest on that show, and Mr. Duffy asked me a question about equalization. I responded that the system of transfers that we generally refer to as equalization is not consistent with the efficient running of the economy. When Mr. Duffy, asked me why, I responded that equalization was like having your 25-year-old son living in your basement rent-free. There was no incentive to get a job and no incentive to move out and become a productive member of society. Mr. Duffy's reaction was somewhat akin to wondering how someone with so much education could have such weird ideas. I was reminded of this recently, when the government of Nova Scotia officially banned hydraulic fracturing, commonly known as fracking. A lot of people think of fracking in the same manner that they think of the oilsands, as dangerous, dirty and generally destroyi...

By banning high-volume fracking, Nova Scotia has bowed to ENGO pressure and hobbled the province's economic future By: Jim Bentein, from Oilweek Magazine Nova Scotia's Liberal government allowed "well-funded anit-fossil fuel groups" to dominate its decision making in choosing to ban high-volume fracking, says the head of an organization that represents conventional and renewable energy producers in the province. The ban, says Barbara Pike, chief executive officer of the Halifax-based Maritimes Energy Association, has cost the province in an anti-business light, a perception that will be almost impossible to overcome. The government has "created the impression that the province isn't open for business," says Pike, whose organization represents some 320 energy producers, from tidal to wind to oil and gas. "If you're developing wind for generating hydro or other forms of energy, you're looking at investing in a place that is business fr...

CAGC Recorder Article by: Mike Doyle Mike Doyle is the President of the CAGC – the Canadian Association of Geophysical Contractors - representing the business interests of the seismic industry within Canada. The CAGC website may be found at www.cagc.ca . Another soft year for crew numbers. Perhaps the recent and upcoming mergers (of seismic companies) signal the bottom of the market for our industry - as in the floor. Canada’s oil exports to the USA continue to grow whereas natural gas needs to find a new market given the saturation of shale gas in the USA. Petronas is pushing the BC Government to announce LNG taxes prior to the end of October 2014 or potentially face ten years of further delay. It is hard to say who will blink first but a positive investment decision would help our market tremendously. As well the USA midterm elections are coming in early November. As usual it is too close to call however a Republican majority in the Senate could force Obama into a m...

Mike Doyle is the President of the CAGC – the Canadian Association of Geophysical Contractors - representing the business interests of the seismic industry within Canada. The CAGC website may be found at www.cagc.ca . In light of the recent climate change rallies around the world claiming about 750,000 participants with about half of them in New York prior to the UN Climate meeting it is interesting to wonder if the movement is growing or whether it just ebbs and flows with certain events in time. Certainly economics often dampen environmental concerns however moratoriums on hydraulic fracturing in places such as Nova Scotia and Quebec at the very least signal public disconcert regardless of jobs and the economy, whereas on the other hand fracturing in the USA has changed the North American energy picture and as well the world’s. We now have wars in the Middle East that do not affect the price of oil. We recently had Vivian Krause speak at our Alberta Geophysical Sympos...