Thursday, November 29, 2012

The Enbridge Prosperity Myth(updated)


 UPDATED HERE November 29th, this post needed to be rerun...The reason, not only is Alberta running another deficit, its 5th deficit in 6 years, this one is a whopper, Alberta will be running a staggering $2.5 billion dollar deficit and..Allison Redford wants to change accounting practices, she wants all new infrastructure investments to not count against the Alberta debt..
WTF, why is Alberta running $multi-billion dollar deficits when oil has hovered near $90 dollars per barrel for years...
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 Alberta government attacked over $3B deficit

 EDMONTON - Alberta is on track to run a deficit as high as $3 billion in the 2012-13 fiscal year, provincial finance officials said Wednesday, drawing sharp criticism from the opposition.
Speaking to the second-quarter results, Finance Minister Doug Horner said the budget problems revealed in the first-quarter financial update continued during July, August and September. Overall, he said, the province has a bright economic future. But of particular concern is lower than expected energy revenues.


Bitumen royalties fell $369 million short of six-month projections, while crude oil was $139 million short. Natural gas was $349 million short and Crown lease income was about half of the $1.1 billion expected.
The province has revised its price for a barrel of West Texas Intermediate crude downward from $99.25 in the budget to $92.50 in the second quarter update.
Those shortfalls matter because about a quarter of the province’s $40-billion budget is funded with resource revenue.
Alberta Finance also reported that expenses for the first six months were $293 million higher than expected. The reason, they said, was dealing with disasters such as forest fires and severe hailstorms.
The second quarter update continued the trend of quarterly reports that paint a less rosy picture than anticipated in the government’s February budget. Instead of an $886-million deficit projected for the year, finance officials said the deficit looked like it would range between $2.3 billion and $3 billion.

 http://www.edmontonjournal.com/news/Alberta+government+attacked+over+deficit/7621873/story.html
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Anderson calls out Redford and Horner for dishonest spin on need for government debt

EDMONTON, AB (November 14, 2012): The PC rhetoric justifying their plans to borrow billions for new infrastructure spending shows a frightening lack of financial literacy and awareness of global economic uncertainty, Wildrose Finance Critic Rob Anderson said today. 
Since 2004, the province had paid off its debt and paid for all infrastructure projects through annual revenue. Not including the current budget year, Alberta has spent $44.9 billion dollars on infrastructure through debt-free spending since that time;  roughly double the amount spent per-person compared to almost every other province. 
Despite this, Premier Redford justified putting Alberta back into debt by falsely stating that “if everything we do right now is fully funded with cash in the bank, then we are never going to build anything more in this province.” In addition, Finance Minister Doug Horner, inappropriately compared government going into debt with young couples taking out a mortgage on a home.  
“It is dishonest and misleading to say we cannot build infrastructure if we don’t go into debt and then to compare government going into debt with families investing in their first or second home,” Anderson said. “Roads, bridges and hospitals, though important, are depreciating assets that are never sold, cost billions to staff and maintain, and debt-financing such assets puts taxpayers solely at risk. On the other hand, a home mortgage is generally an appreciating asset that is regularly sold, and if things go badly, taxpayers are not on the hook.”  
With the province facing a $3 billion dollar deficit after an “Alison in Wonderland” pre-election budget that increased operational spending by a whopping $2.4 billion, Anderson said that both Redford and Horner are now making up excuses as they mortgage Alberta’s future and trash our province’s no-debt reputation. 
“The PCs did not campaign on running this government back into debt, and it’s certainly not what Albertans are asking for,” Anderson said.  “This government would have certainly lost the election had they campaigned on going back into debt, and they should either scrap their debt financing plans or at the very least, put the question to a provincial referendum.” 

 http://www.wildrose.ca/feature/anderson-calls-out-redford-and-horner-for-dishonest-spin-on-need-for-government-debt/

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(Still in update mode November 29th)- if Alberta is going broke with a massive increase in tar sand activity are we to believe an oil pipeline will bring harmonious wealth to BC?..The answer is no, the story belows explains how spikes in oil prices led to the world`s worst recessions, if oil spikes to $150 a barrel again the world will again enter a deep recession, in fact we are still in the last recession, ...Look at the criminals running(ruining) our BC Government, look what they have blamed for deficits, falling resource revenue, one by oine our Government is ceding tax breaks and subsidies to resource extractors and day by day BC is falling deeper in debt, Dutch Disease, you bet...Check out these numbers by David Shreck..
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Deep decade decline in natural resource revenue


Growth in some other sources of revenue is slow or negative. In 2000-2001 natural resource revenue totaled $3.96 billion, consisting mainly of forest revenue at $1.34 billion and natural gas revenue at $1.25 billion. In 2012-13, total natural resource revenue is estimated to be only $2.56 billion, with $546 million from forestry and $157 million from natural gas. This year total natural resource revenue is expected to be only 65 per cent of what it was in 2000-2001.



 http://thetyee.ca/Opinion/2012/11/29/BC-Structural-Deficit/

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(Still in update mode November 29th), our resource revenue is but half of what it was 12 years ago, all that raping of the lands, all that drilling, fracking, water poisoning, damning and mining and BC`s royalties are going backwards, .....Today`s economists are nothing but shills for corporate welfare and our politicians are effing liars and thieves!

The Enbridge Prosperity Myth....Written by Grant G 

 

The Enbridge prosperity myth, I wasn`t sure what to title this story but after careful consideration it seemed appropriate, I read an interesting story involving Pat Carney, the premise of her story on Enbridge is this....

First Nations are opposed to Enbridge, there are 56 separate First Nation groups, the majority of those are interior Bands, and in fact many of those interior groups are willing(for a price) to allow the Enbridge pipeline through their territory, however, the First Nations(and average BCers) at most risk, those being the coastal First Nations and those BCers who rely on a vibrant healthy West Coast eco-system are being offered virtually nothing!

Think about that for just a moment, the Haisla Nation/Haida, North Island bands and West Coast fishers  who would be at risk of losing everything, of losing a one of a kind eco-paradise are being almost completely left out of the process!...Meaning this, an interior band doesn`t have to worry too much, they merely have to maintain an inland pipeline through their territory, not if but when a Oil Tanker disaster strikes the BC Northcoast the ones affected, the coasters are out of the loop, interior bands, interior First Nations will still get their money, the oil disaster risk is very minor to interior First Nations compared to the risk  West Coasters will bear, by a country mile!

Here is a little cut n paste from the Pat Carney article....
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OTTAWA — The $5.5-billion Northern Gateway pipeline linking Alberta's vast oilsands wealth to Asian markets via a northern B.C. port won't likely meet its 2017 target to begin shipments — if it's built at all, retired B.C. Conservative Senator Pat Carney said Thursday

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I highlighted one line....Northern Gateway pipeline linking Alberta's vast oilsands wealth.
You see that, it isn`t BC`s wealth, it isn`t Canada`s wealth it`s Alberta`s wealth, Alberta and by extension the Federal Government wants British Columbia to take all the risk, every river and stream the pipeline will traverse and there are thousands of them and the biggy, our entire West Coast as we know it could be destroyed by an Oil Tanker accident, and what do we get out of it?....Some puny royalties?..A pat on the back, what do millions of BCers get out of risking our Coast, risking what we are, risking everything for a few dollars in royalties!

Here is a little something from Pembina

Royalties Down 32%, Billions
in Federal Revenue Lost
OIL BOOMS:
O V E R H A U L I N G T H E R O YA LT Y A N D TA X T R E AT M E N T O F A L B E R TA’ S O I L S A N D S
Record oil prices, record oil sands production,
record profits for companies, and yet Alberta’s
oil sands royalty return per barrel is down 32%,
and the federal government has lost up to
$1.65 billion to oil sands tax breaks.
 Since 1997, when the current royalty regime was
implemented, capital investments in oil sands projects
have increased more than 300% and oil sands
production has increased 88%. By 2004, production
surpassed one million barrels per day – a production
target that was originally set for 2020. In
just one decade, the price of oil has increased 214%.
While the low royalty rates and federal tax break
were deemed necessary in the early days of oil sands
developments, they have outlived their purpose.
The low royalty rates mean that between
1996 and 2005 royalty revenue paid to
Albertans declined by 32% from $3.39
to $2.29 per barrel of oil
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Well there it is, the price of oil has skyrocketed and royalties to Actual Albertans has fallen, fallen aplenty, and the same goes to the Federal Government, as production increases in the oil sands, which it has year after year the Federal Government is making less and less, at the rate it`s falling even the vast Oilsands are soon to be a welfare industry....Perhaps you think I`m over-stating the case, well, here`s a little more Pembina for you...
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It’s bad enough that oil sands royalties
are declining as oil sands production
goes up and oil companies reap windfall
profits. Now cost over-runs for the
construction of new oil sands projects,
brought on by an economy that has
been overheated by the pace of development,
are further reducing royalties
and taxes that Alberta and the federal
government should be receiving.
Cost over-runs mean oil companies
stay at the 1% royalty rate longer
before jumping to the 25% rate,
which means Albertans get less
revenue today.
Even when companies do get to the
25% rate, it is based on their net
income so higher expenses means
even less revenue for the resource
owners, the public.
Cost over-runs also cost Canadians
money. This is because federal taxes
are reduced or deferred because of
the sweetheart deal that enables oil
sands companies to write off 100%
of their capital costs.
This means taxpayers subsidize not
only the start-up of the oil sands industry
but continue to subsidize project
expansions too. And now that the
industry is getting too big, too quickly,
Canadian taxpayers are also on
the hook for cost over-runs resulting
from an overheated economy
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So west-Coasters and First Nations take all the oil tanker risk, and we get nothing, West Coast First Nation`s are not on the pipeline route, fisherman, eco-tourism, 100,000`s of West Coast jobs and a way of life being put at risk for nothing, what will BC receive for royalties per-barrel ?....I can guarantee you it won`t be anywhere near the $2.29 per barrel Albertans get!....And if you read the above, Oil companies are only paying Royalties on NET Profits/revenue...This explains why as of late Alberta has run deficits, no wonder the Heritage fund is going backwards!

The federal Government, Stephen Harper and the Conservatives have lost their way, the oilsands are portrayed by the Harperites as the key for Canada`s future, this is a patent falsehood, today, currently Canada`s GDP is roughly $1.4 Trillion dollars per year, that`s alot of money sloshing around, so what would the Enbridge pipeline add to Canada`s GDP over say the next 30 years....Well according to Enbridge`s spokesman Paul Stanway..

"But it's also the key to Canadians getting full value for the country's most important export — potentially adding $270 billion to Canada's GDP over the next 30 years."

That works out to less than $9 billion dollars added to Canada`s GDP per year....And I`m sure Paul Stanway has enlarged that number, so what would BC receive, how much in royalties?....The Gulf Spill cost over $40 billion to clean up, so far!, The Gulf of Mexico,  a big open bathtub without thousands of islands, inlets, coves, the cost of a Northern BC coastal spill would dwarf that....And how is B.P.(British Petroleum)doing after their major spill...Well let me tell you how good they`re doing...
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BP's first-quarter net profits leapt 17 percent thanks to high crude prices, the British energy giant said Wednesday, adding that it was revising upward the cost of last year's fatal Gulf oil spill disaster.
Earnings after tax jumped to $7.124 billion (4.9 billion euros) in the three months to March, compared with the first quarter of 2010, BP said in a results statement.
It added that the 2010 Gulf of Mexico spill would cost BP $41.3 billion, up from a previous guidance of $40.9 billion, and warned of "significant uncertainty" surrounding the company's ultimate exposure
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So, let`s re-examine that GDP number, one big Oil Spill could wipe out not only our West Coast environment but also any financial gain Canada might have gained, for like I said before, when the inevitable oil spills occur,  time and time again oil companies don`t pay, they fight, they fight in court for years, like the Exxon Valdez disaster 20 plus years gone by and still Exxon Mobile hasn`t paid, litigants will die of old age before anyone receives a dime, ....Perhaps you doubters think that the courts are no longer giving big oil a free ride, ....Well maybe you missed this little story that was all but squashed from Canadian media(on purpose)....British Petroleum(B.P.)...B.P. won a court battle, and guess who just got screwed again, the little people, the US taxpayer, here is the SHOCKING STORY...
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US District court has dismissed over 100,000 lawsuits brought against BP And Transocean to pay for oil spill clean up costs and environmental damages caused to the Gulf of Mexico from the BP Gulf Oil Spill. The court ruled that injury stopped the moment the well was sealed and the Federal Government, aka The US Taxpayer, is now liable for clean up costs along with any damages caused by deficiencies of the cleanup of the Gulf Of Mexico.

The US District Courts have ruled that since oil is no longer flowing from the Macando Well BP and Transocean are not liable for cleanup costs and damages from the BP Gulf Oil Spill since the “well has already been sealed and the injury has already been committed”.
In the ruling the court goes on note that Federal Government is in charge of the oil spill clean up efforts. Thus any damages related to the cleanup are now the burden of the Federal Government, meaning the US Taxpayer.
The ruling means that Taxpayers are not only liable for the clean up of the BP Gulf Oil Spill but it also means that any damages caused by deficiencies of the clean up in the Gulf is now also the responsibility of the US Taxpayer.
The lawsuits against BP have been bundled into separate packages with all of the lawsuits pertaining to BP’s liability for cleanup costs and environmental damages being dismissed with this ruling.
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No wonder Harper`s media sheep kept this dreadful ruling quiet....So not only would BC be risking everything for tiny royalties, any oil tanker disaster on our B.C. north coast would wipe out any and all financial gains the Province would ever receive, in British Columbia a major spill on the BC North Coast would spawn 1000`s of lawsuits, 1000`s would lose everything and fighting in court against Big Oil`s in-house lawyers would be an exercise in futility!...

Time for a left turn on this story, back to the title..."The Enbridge Prosperity Myth"

B.C. has the highest fuel prices in Canada, we have the Kinder Morgan oil pipeline coming to Vancouver, we are already risking the Southern coast, does the BC Consumer gain anything cooperating with Alberta????? Has Alberta guaranteed BCers cheap oil, a guaranteed cheap price for a partner????,,,,Not a chance in HELL, we in BC will still be paying the highest fuel prices in Canada, no breaks here, is Alberta willing to guarantee British Columbia or Canada as a whole a cheap supply of oil....Not a chance in Hell, the Government of Canada as a wholesaler of oil isn`t prepared to give its own people one dime of relief!....It`s what Harper calls the "Free-Market"....Yet there is nothing free about it, if it was free Big The Alberta/Federal Government wouldn`t have slashed royalties and given such lucrative tax write offs to the point of turning the highly profitable oil industry into "corporate welfare"!

Big oil will never stop hurting the little guys, any big spill clean up costs will be unloaded onto the Government and the people.

Big OIL....Big recessions......The 3 biggest recessions in North America since the great depression in 1929 have been spawned by big oil price spikes.....Here are the Straight Goods, with a little help from Wikipedia.,...

Recession of 1973....Duration of resession, 1 year 4 months....Peak unemployment..9.0%....Decline in GDP from peak to trough...-3.2%....And here is what Wikipedia says about the cause of that recession...


A quadrupling of oil prices by OPEC coupled with Government spending on the Vietnam War led to stagflation in the USA, The period was also marked by the 1973 oil crisis and the 1973-1974 stock market crash, The period is remarkable for rising unemployment coinciding with rising inflation......

1980 recession...Duration of resession, 1 year 4 months...Peak unemployment 10.8%....Decline in GDP from peak to trough...-2.7 .....The cause of that recession, from Wikipedia...

The Iranian revolution sharply increased the price of oil around the world in 1979 causing the 1979 energy crisis, This was caused by the new regime in power in Iran, which exported oil at inconsistent intervals and at a lower volume, forcing prices up, tight monetary policy in the USA to control inflation led to another recession, the changes were made largely because of inflation carried over from the previous decade because of the 1973 oil crisis and the 1979 energy crisis.

Isn`t that special, the two largest and longest recessions since the great depression caused by monkey business in the oil game......And guess what, Wikipedia hasn`t made the connection with the 2008 recession and spike in the price of big oil(yet)....Here is the data from the NOW OVER(apparently) 2008 recession....

2008 recession....duration of recession..1 year 6 months...Peak unemployment...10.1%....Decline in GDP from peak to trough...-5.1%.....

Yet nobody has made the connection, not Wikipedia, not the economists, me, just me, oil prices shot up to nearly $150 dollars a barrel at that time in history, consumers got hammered around the world, in fact the price of gas in BC was very very high.......And even at $96 dollars a barrel, the price at BC pumps is almost the same as the price it is today, EXPENSIVE!.....

The 1973 recession was caused by a spike in oil prices, so was the 1980 recession, and so was the 2008 recession, but this time it`s different, in the 1970`s wages were still rising, in 1980 wages were still rising but now at a snail`s pace, .....Wages have been absolutely flat in North America since the 1980`s....Now after both of those recessions oil fell back down in price.....But this time....This time oil fell back to $50 dollars a barrel but it didn`t stay there, oil has been rising fast, every time the stock market looks like a recovery oil spikes upwards to again punish consumers...

The price of oil was $20 dollars a barrel when George Bush invaded Iraq in early 2002, today the price is nearly $100 dollars per barrel....This last recession hasn`t ended and won`t end with $100 dollar plus per barrel, ......There is a fundamental reason for that...Wages are flat, in fact the median income for North Americans has been flat for 2 decades, and over the last 2 years and this year the median income in the USA has actually fallen....Here is a little tidbit from the Wallstreet journal


"The income of the typical American family—long the envy of much of the world—has dropped for the third year in a row and is now roughly where it was in 1996 when adjusted for inflation.
The income of a household considered to be at the statistical middle fell 2.3% to an inflation-adjusted $49,445 in 2010, which is 7.1% below its 1999 peak, the Census Bureau said......

 The Census Bureau's annual snapshot of living standards offered a new set of statistics to show how devastating the recession was and how disappointing the recovery has been. For a huge swath of American families, the gains of the boom of the 2000s have been wiped out."


Now look at Europe, austerity measures, wages cut, benefits cut, taxes being raised, user fees, and in most European countries GDP is falling, the world will stay in recession for eternity unless either wages spike like oil prices or when oil falls back down to affordable prices.

The difference with this latest recession is this....Wages can no longer support extended high oil prices, people are earning less and being taxed more, there is no more room for increased prices, have you people noticed the price of food as of late?..I have, and so have many BCers...

Global and CTV ran a story last week, a BC story, a story about crime, new crime, shoplifting....Shoplifting is on the rise big-time in British Columbia and the most amazing part of the story was who was doing the stealing and what they were taking....The new breed of shoplifters are struggling parents and seniors stealing food, stealing meat, cheese, stealing chocolate, items that average folks used to be able to afford are no longer within reach of their pocketbook, only within reach of their hands...The big food manufacturers are now cheating, sneaky packaging with new smaller containers, containers that look like the old containers, only they hold less, smaller cans, smaller jars, new funky designs in containers to appear larger than they really are.

Here in BC people are stealing food to survive, BC has the highest poverty level again, 8 years in a row...Highest fuel prices, highest priced housing and lowest median income in Canada..

This post is about the crimes of big oil, the myth of prosperity, the illusion of oil wealth when the reality is....We might as well buy oil from Saudi Arabia and refine it ourselves, it would be no more expensive than the price we pay now, Alberta and the Federal Conservatives will never give Canadians a break on domestic oil, not even a break for a Province which could lose their entire West Coast.....There is nothing positive for British Columbia in allowing the Enbridge pipeline.

And lastly, China has recently announced that they will be spending over $1.5 trillion US dollars on "Strategic industries"...These industries include...Nuclear power...Alternative fuels, solar power, and high end technology...

India has the Tata, a compressed air powered car, China will come up with their own technology, Canada would be fools to advance the Enbridge pipeline when China is in the midst of change, Alberta, Enbridge, they crave $200 dollar per barrel oil, it might come but there won`t be anyone buying it, the world economy would crash, the world even today can`t sustain  current oil prices.

Canada`s GDP in 2010.....$1.4 trillion dollars.....The Stephen Harper Government and Alberta wants to risk our BC coast for a whopping....


.55 % to Canada`s GDP per year .....Or if you like over 30 years,......A total of 20% of one year`s GDP(2010`s GDP) over a 30 year period!

The math doesn`t work, the risk isn`t worth it and the world is on the cusp of change, and lastly, with low royalties, with but a handful of after pipeline construction jobs and with Big Oil continuing to stiff their legal responsibilities while fighting tooth and nail to avoid any culpability for any spills.

The answer is no, British Columbians will never allow the Enbridge Northern pipeline, and that includes going against bribed interior First Nations people who are prepared to risk what they don`t own and could never replace.....

The Wild Super Natural Northern BC Coast.

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Updated here...


This fascinating story from the Huntington Post – it deserves to be passed on!!!
Canada Oil And Gas Industry: Shrinking Profits May Be A Sign Of Things To Come
Canada Oil Gas Industry
Canada's energy industry may be facing more than a blip. Revolutionary changes in energy extraction pose a real long-term threat to the industry. (AP photo)
The talk coming out of Canada’s oil patch in recent months has been increasingly tinged with panic. Industry leaders are growing worried about the oil sands’ future prospects, and the earnings reports coming out this week are a good sign of why that may be.
Oil producer Cenovus on Wednesday reported a 40-per-cent decline in profit  in the latest quarter, falling to $396 million from $655 million a year earlier.
Things were even worse for Calgary-based natural gas producer Encana, whichrecorded a whopping quarterly $1.48 billion loss. It had recorded a profit of $383 million in the same period a year earlier.
(And Canada's largest energy producer -- Suncor -- said on Wednesday it's mulling delaying some of its new projects . The company denied market conditions were behind the move, saying only that the company is "looking at how we get the best economics for those projects.")
On the surface, the reason for this is obvious: Declining energy prices. Natural gas prices are at rock bottom, and prices for oil have been under downward pressure as the world economy faces a tough summer thanks to Europe’s credit crisis and a slowdown in China.
But beneath the surface is a rapidly-changing global energy industry. With the U.S. rapidly developing its shale oil and gas deposits, Asia increasingly looking to renewable energy, and the controversy over the environmental impact of the oil sands showing no signs abating, Canada’s energy exporters could find themselves in a seemingly unthinkable situation: Lots of oil, and few markets to sell it.
All this is happening just as Canada’s dependence on energy exports has been reaching new heights. As the Globe and Mail reported, oil and gas sales, as well investment in oil sands infrastructure, accounted for one-third of Canada’s economic growth in 2010 and 2011 .
So what happens to Canada when energy and commodity prices go down?
“If oil prices get to a point where they are going to deter investment in the [energy] sector, the negatives outweigh the benefits,” TD Bank economist Diana Petramala told the Globe.
That scenario -- unthinkable just a few years ago -- may be exactly what Canada’s natural resource sector may be facing. And it’s not just a temporary blip in prices Canada is facing -- it may be a permanent and revolutionary shift in energy extraction that makes Canada’s oil sands far less desirable than they seemed until now.
One thing threatening Canada’s energy sector is the new American oil and gas boom . With new extraction techniques like hydraulic fracturing coming online, U.S. energy companies are busily starting to drill on domestic soil again . The oil industry in Texas is booming in a way it hasn’t in more than three decades, and plenty of other, less expected, places are becoming oil meccas. Meanwhile, new supplies of natural gas have pushed prices for the energy source down to near-record levels.
This boom is already having tangible effects on Canada’s oil industry. Insiders estimate that Canadian exporters, unable to export to markets other than the U.S., are facing a $15 per barrel discount on the oil they sell, when compared to international Brent crude prices.
Secret government documents obtained by Postmedia earlier this month  argue Canada’s oil exports have become “landlocked” by the lack of pipeline infrastructure, and by environmental concerns surrounding carbon-heavy bitumen. The report urged the country to “address the environmental issues surrounding the current and projected growth of the industry.”
It may seem paradoxical, then, that Canada is pushing so hard to get the Keystone XL pipeline to the U.S. built. But as many observers argue, the point of the pipeline is not so much to get more Canadian oil to the U.S. market -- it’s to get Canadian oil to the U.S. ports that can take it to other markets  -- particularly Asia. And the Northern Gateway pipeline project, which would carry oil and gas between Alberta and the ports on the B.C. coast, is obviously meant for this purpose.
(The ease with which President Barack Obama delayed the Keystone XL pipeline is, according to some, a sign that the U.S. simply doesn’t need more Canadian oil ; if it was necessary as an energy security prerogative, there would have been little question as to approving the pipeline.)

This week's announcement that Chinese state-owned oil firm CNOOC has made a $15.1-billion offer for Calgary-based Nexen is a clear sign that China is interested in the oil sands. Yet despite this, Asia is beginning to look uncertain as a market for Canadian oil, both in the short term and long. OPEC is projecting lower demand for oil  in the near future, potentially jeopardizing any hopes of new markets for Canadian oil in the next few years.
In the long term, Asia is already looking to renewable energy. With their large, dense populations, and dependence on Middle Eastern oil, Asian countries see diversification of energy sources as a prerogative, if not an absolute necessity.

Read the full story at the Huffington post








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Eventually even the big players catch up to the Powell River Persuader..
 



The Straight Goods



Cheers Eyes Wide Open









11 comments:

oceantor said...

Excellent article Grant. If they allow 1/4 mile long oil tankers navigate those sounds and narrow inside channels with big tides, Gale Force + winds fog etc ect. Remember the BC Ferry incident? That is a part of the route these colossal tankers will have to navigate and that is very much open water compared to the narrow channels they have to Pilot and Manoeuvre. No it would be just a matter of time before the World's biggest oil spill happens. Without a doubt. But then our Politicians have never been noted for being smart or intelligent? Not in my lifetime. The closest was Trudeau.

Anonymous said...

Every other day we are hearing of, wind warnings up to 100 kms and high waves that are lashing out right over the roof tops.

They say, the Port of Kitimat seas are one of the most dangerous seas in the world. I didn't find an explanation of, what makes the sea so horrendous there? I had no idea the Chinese tankers were that massive. Good God, a spill from one of those ships, I don't want to think about.

I have read, Alberta has had 5000 oil spills. We certainly don't want the Enbridge pipeline anywhere near our province. Enbridge did a very poor job of, cleaning up the Kalamazoo River pipe burst.

There are thousands of BC people, who are supporting the First Nations People, to stop the atrocities of the pipeline and the dirty tankers.

Harper has dictated, China WILL pick up the dirty oil, from out of the Port of Kitimat. This is a fight we can't afford to lose.

Harper really caused an outrage. He is involving Canada into every war he can find. However, if our young military are maimed for life, there is no support for them. Harper is cutting our veterans support, right down to the bare bones. The WW11 vets in Canadian Legions, are calling, Harper a fascist. They are really furious. They fought for this country and died. Our young died in Afghanistan too. If it was me, I would tell Harper to go to hell, and get out of the military as fast as I could. Harper is not worth being maimed, nor dying for.

Anonymous said...

Campbell and Harper pretty much dismantled BC. There is precious little left for the BC people.

The government has even allowed dirty diseased fish farms, that are killing off our wild salmon, to prosper by that macabre. The salmon dying off, has a very long arm of misfortune. The First Nations People, rely on the salmon to feed their family's. The bears, eagles and many other wildlife species depend on the salmon for food.

The Enbridge pipeline, will be another disaster in waiting. We have earthquakes in BC, as high as a 6.6. We have avalanches, mud slides and rock slides. How long would it take, to find a pipeline burst, in our vast wilderness? What if a pipeline is burst, under thousands of tons of rocks, because of an earthquake?

People from all over the world, come to see our beautiful Orca and Humpback whales. Thousands of wildlife species live in that channel. The F.N. people also depend on the sea for food..

As was said, there is nothing in this for the BC people. Even if there was, the BC citizen's would still say no. At some point, common sense should trump Harper and Alberta's greed.

Anonymous said...

Worst of all. Permitting Communist China to buy up control of the tar sands, is insane.

Communist China has hacked into other country's secret files. Seems it was a mistake to buy electronic components from China. The U.S. missiles and other weapons, had infected components in them, bought from China.

Now, Communist China has laid claim to one of the cities, in the Philippine Islands. Communist China is taking the little island over, claiming the rich resources for themselves. The U.S. has been in a stand off, to try and protect the Philippines from losing their resources to Communist China.

Communist China's aggression, seems to be causing trouble, all around the globe.

I just feel, it is a big mistake, in selling the tar sands to Communist China, that I am really afraid off.

Don't know what is going to happen Grant. Hopefully you can ferret out the details. I'm not any good at that, what-so-ever.

Hugh said...

Funny how they describe a $21 billion Canadian Federal budget deficit as a big success:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/ottawas-deficit-shrinks-as-world-economies-struggle/article4444087/

Grant G said...

Hey friends..Sorry about the lack of posting lately..

Been working 12 hours per day(for free)..25 straight days so far..

Fixing up Mom`s world..Her home, driver, mechanic, carpenter, windows, floors, decks, bathroom, paint, a total reno... 30 tears of neglect by an unmentionable sibling who left Mom`s lower house thrashed..

Another week to go..

Cheers

Anonymous said...

Add conflict of interest to Redfords record, and Edmonton, we have a problem.

Anonymous said...

People play games in the Patch. Sub-Contractors are deliberately delaying work, claiming lack of manpower or materials, whatever, so they can suck more out of the energy giants. The workers are the pawns in this game of profit. Disgusting and sad at the same time.

Anonymous said...

The name is TAR sands not oil sands.
One has to wonder just how much oil the USA really has & at what cost to extract.
Am I wrong in saying that part of the USA's oil reserve is actually Canadian oil?

Anonymous said...

Putin of Russia signed a deal with China, on his visit. Russia will give China all the oil they want. China owns our cheap oil, they extract the oil very cheaply, with their slave labor. The tar oil goes to China. Refined very cheaply for resale, at a very nice profit, on Harper's stupidity. China leads in oil sales, they will sell our oil by the Chinese yaun, rather than the dollar. China expects to be the world currency, within a decade.

If I am wrong, please say so. I understood the U.S. was taking the tar sands oil, for resale too? With oil profits down, it is doubtful the Keystone pipeline will be built?

Canadians have questioned Harper why, our Canadian cost of living is the highest, in all of the America's. Harper's answer is, go shop in the U.S. Harper loses billions in revenue by chasing Canadians, across the border to shop. Obama loves our patronage. Harper does not. I just don't get it.

As far as BC goes. Hopefully once we get rid of the thieving Liberals, we can take our province back. Try and get back, some of what was stolen from us. We don't need Chinese workers here, what-so-ever. This province belongs to us. Not to the Campbell/Clark BC Liberals, and especially not to Harper. Alberta has no right to, dictate to BC either.

Anonymous said...

And they did not have to clean up anything.

NO TO ENBRIDGE AND THE NORTHEN GATEWAY as well as LNG

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/high-court-says-province-cant-force-insolvent-company-145545878.html