While oil and gas investment has grown substantially in other parts of the world, Canada has failed to keep pace
By Mark Milke and Lennie Kaplan Canadian Energy Centre Over the past decade, one oft-heard claim is that oil and gas is a ‘sunset’ industry, where investment in Canada can be expected to decline given a worldwide flight from oil and investment. However, international data (available from 2009 to 2017) show no such worldwide flight…
Over a fifth of Europe’s energy was generated by solar panels and wind turbines in the first half of 2020
Peak oil demand is approaching fast – and earlier than anticipated. It’s not that oil won’t be required in the years and decades to come. It will still be in demand. But the world won’t be critically, crucially and strategically dependent on oil, as it is today. This year may be the turning point for…
Supported by all these bullish factors, Brent crude spot prices rose. Yet oil markets also face bearish pressures
Faced with gloom and some good news at the same time, crude oil markets continue to be in a quandary. Retrenchment and lack of capital investment could eventually lead to crude shortages, argued David Messler in a piece in Oilprice.com in June. The shortage could result in firming up of oil prices. Messler also points…
The game is up: Oil and gas companies can no longer mask their financial frailty
The decline in oil demand accelerated by Covid-19 may be a sign of the future. Forty publicly-traded U.S. oil producers wrote down a collective $48 billion worth of the value of their assets in the first quarter of 2020, the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported. Quoting Deloitte, Oilprice.com points out that the collapse in crude…
Researchers looked at 15 strategies that would decrease sector’s energy use intensity and found increased profits from all
Investment in new energy-efficient, greenhouse gas mitigation strategies by oil sands producers could net them some important profits, according to a model developed by a research group at the University of Alberta. Engineering professor Amit Kumar and his team investigated 15 strategies covering all areas of the oil sands sector – in situ extraction, upgrading and…
By Jock Finlayson and Denise Mullen Business Council of B.C. There’s no getting around it: the world is consuming more energy than ever, notwithstanding a temporary dip in demand associated with the COVID-19 pandemic. This reflects the simple fact that all human activity ultimately is derived from the use of energy. We depend on vast…
Iran, Venezuela and Libya have virtually been forced out of production. But that hasn’t made the lives of other producers easier
An uneven playing field exists in the crude oil marketplace. Two major producers, Iran and Venezuela, face sanctions on their oil sales from the United States. Meanwhile, Libya is in the midst of civil strife. These circumstances mean a considerable volume of oil isn’t available to the markets. Yet the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries…
The gap between expectations and existing policy is wide. Closing that gap will cost thousands of jobs and devastate whole economic sectors
By Mark Milke and Lennie Kaplan Canadian Energy Centre Aspirations are important in life but it’s always helpful to be clear on the means to the desired end, especially if others are involved. A case in point: General commitments by governments in Canada to significantly reduce carbon emissions by 2030, i.e., the Paris commitment. In…
We can get Canadians back to work by leveraging the sector’s leadership in environmental protection and its export potential
“The country isn’t going to recover unless the oil and gas sector recovers.” These words from federal Natural Resources Minister Seamus O’Regan made headlines and highlight the importance of Canada’s largest industry. The reality is that natural gas and oil play an unarguable role in the national economy. Natural gas and oil are Canada’s biggest…
The Chinese have stockpiled huge reserves of low-priced oil, giving them significant geopolitical leverage over Russia and Saudi Arabia
With the major stakeholders – Saudi Arabia, Russia and the United States – emerging badly bruised from the last round of the crude oil price war, a new world order is set to emerge. The cost of the battle has been immense to all three. In April, as the battle erupted, the value of Saudi…