Canada wasn’t targeted for international outrage because it was a threat to the global climate, but simply because it was an easy target
For several decades, Canada was the focus of a global attack on its natural resource economy, with its oil sands deposits (the world’s third-largest oil reserve) ranked as public enemy number one. Though only a tiny contributor to global greenhouse gas emissions (about 1.6 per cent of the total), the oil sands were seen as…
Research will further applications in everything from solar energy and next-generation batteries to cleaner mining and pharmaceuticals
When Russian chemist Dmitri Mendeleev published the periodic table of the elements in 1869, he invented not only a roadmap for access to all known and future compounds, but also the “chemist’s playground.” “It’s our playbook,” said the University of Alberta’s Dennis Hall, a professor in the Faculty of Science and Canada Research Chair in Boron Chemistry…
Has led to significantly higher wages, higher investment by industry, more taxes and royalty revenues for governments
By Mark Milke and Lennie Kaplan Canadian Energy Centre We take a lot for granted. Consider the evolution in farming over the centuries. Imagine being a farmer a century or more ago. You likely used animals or your muscle to move a plow to furrow the soil in preparation for planting the seeds. Perhaps you…
The grand old wise man of the energy world has slipped into history. With the passing away of Sheikh Ahmed Zaki Yamani, the charismatic Saudi oil minister from 1962 to 1986, an era has come to an end. With his calm and cool demeanour, intellectual depth, sharp mind and the capacity to stand up to…
Canadian oil helps keep the United States economy humming and natural gas helps keep American homes warm
By Mark Milke and Lennie Kaplan Canadian Energy Centre In a world where Russian President Vladimir Putin is widely assumed to be behind the poisoning of opposition leader Alexei Navalny, liberal democracies should stick together. This should be especially relevant on matters related to energy. Russia has been using energy exports as a weapon for…
With the Brent crude oil price touching $65 last week, markets have entered the hot zone. Inclement weather, the resultant rising demand for heating, a dip in United States output and the unilateral Saudi output cut all helped to tighten the markets, contributing to the bull run. Parts of the U.S. have been in a…
2021 perfect opportunity for the feds to demonstrate its commitment to a sector critical to the Canadian prosperity
If only the federal government would put its full force behind the energy sector, as it does other critical sectors in the economy. In early October, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced he wouldn’t back down from the latest American round of attacks on Canada’s softwood lumber industry. Then, the federal government announced it would pursue…
By every measure, Canada is a beacon of civil, political and economic rights
By Mark Milke and Lennie Kaplan Canadian Energy Centre Over the past two years, three insurance companies from Europe – Axa, Zurich and Swiss Re – announced plans to stop insuring Canadian oil sands projects, and reduce or entirely eliminate investments in the oil and gas sector. The reason offered is the standard refrain: assumed…
Some observers see prices moving even higher as refiners increase processing rates to meet rising product demand
Oil extended its longest winning streak in two years last week. Crude oil prices climbed more than nine per cent, as the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies in OPEC+ curbed supplies, depleting global oil inventories. A United States government report also indicated that U.S. domestic oil stockpiles have fallen by 6.6 million…
More than 70 years of Alberta prosperity could be in jeopardy. And the continued fixation and dependence on fossil fuels could bring disaster
Lack of diversification is a risky invitation to investment disaster. Very few institutional, corporate or individual investors would put their total net worth into one sector. Yet that’s just what Alberta, Newfoundland and Labrador, and Saskatchewan have done. The economies of these provinces are heavily dependent on the fortunes of the petroleum industry. Corporate and…