Friday, May 31, 2013

BC Government formally Rejects Enbridge?




A Tip of the hat from The Straight Goods and the Powell River Persuader to the BC Government..

It`s still early in the process and of course  Stephen Treason Harper and his trained seal cabinet can still attempt to ram this project through, I and all British Columbian`s would feel beeter if the province also formerally ended the joint equivalency agreement with Ottawa..

We won`t let our guard down, no matters what games these politicians play we still have First Nations vowing to tie Enbridge up in knots in our courts for years, maybe decades..

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“(Enbridge Northern Gateway) has presented little evidence about how it will respond in the event of a spill,” the province wrote in its submission to the Northern Gateway Pipeline Joint Review Panel.
“Put another way, it is not clear from the evidence that NG (Northern Gateway) will in fact be able to respond effectively to spills either from the pipeline itself, or from tankers transporting diluted Bitumen from the proposed Kitimat terminal.”
The strongly worded submission made clear the B.C. government believes the company has yet to lay out how it would respond to a catastrophic spill – something it said is particularly important here.
“The project before JRP (Joint Review Panel) is not a typical pipeline. For example: the behavior in water of the material to be transported is incompletely understood; the terrain the pipeline would cross is not only remote, it is in many places extremely difficult to access; the impact of spills into pristine river environments would be profound,” the province wrote.
“In these particular and unique circumstances, NG should not be granted a certificate on the basis of a promise to do more study and planning once the certificate is granted. The standard in this particular case must be higher,” it added.
“’Trust me’ is not good enough in this case.”
The rejection is a major hurdle for the multi-billion dollar pipeline project, and especially for its ability to gain approval from the Joint Review Panel.
Environment Minister Terry Lake said the submission is the culmination of series of concerns that have been identified by the government throughout the process.
“What we are saying is that at this time, from what we’ve seen – both at the hearing and in the draft conditions that the National Energy Board produced -- that it simply is insufficient for us to think it should go forward,” he said in an interview Friday.
“When you look at the terrain the pipeline crosses, there are some places that are nearly inaccessible so the company was unable to give us adequate detail about how they would respond to a spill in some of these locations,” he continued.
“When we get on the marine environment there’s a lot of questions about the beahviour of this product in cold marine environments and a recognition that more research needs to be done on whether this material would float or whether it would sink, because obviously that makes a difference in terms of any potential spill and how it would be dealt with.”

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More good news making this project unlikely is the long-term world recession, Europe is reporting out that they have new unemployment highs, American data also shows consumers are not spending, not traveling and China itself is in both an economic slowdown and unemployment nightmare..

Over 4 million graduates in China this year, high-skilled graduates that are being offered the wages of low-skilled factory workers(if their lucky), millions of super-educated Chinese graduates with bleak prospects..

The New York Times did a good piece on this topic..

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"It is a remarkable achievement, yet for a government fixated on stability such figures are also a cause for concern. The economy, despite its robust growth, does not generate enough good professional jobs to absorb the influx of highly educated young adults. And many of them bear the inflated expectations of their parents, who emptied their bank accounts to buy them the good life that a higher education is presumed to guarantee.
“College essentially provided them with nothing,” said Zhang Ming, a political scientist and vocal critic of China’s education system. “For many young graduates, it’s all about survival. If there was ever an economic crisis, they could be a source of instability.” 

In a kind of cruel reversal, China’s old migrant class — uneducated villagers who flocked to factory towns to make goods for export — are now in high demand, with spot labor shortages and tighter government oversight driving up blue-collar wages. 

But the supply of those trained in accounting, finance and computer programming now seems limitless, and their value has plunged. Between 2003 and 2009, the average starting salary for migrant laborers grew by nearly 80 percent; during the same period, starting pay for college graduates stayed the same, although their wages actually decreased if inflation is taken into account.

Chinese sociologists have come up with a new term for educated young people who move in search of work like Ms. Liu: the ant tribe. It is a reference to their immense numbers — at least 100,000 in Beijing alone — and to the fact that they often settle into crowded neighborhoods, toiling for wages that would give even low-paid factory workers pause.
“Like ants, they gather in colonies, sometimes underground in basements, and work long and hard,” said Zhou Xiaozheng, a sociology professor at Renmin University in Beijing." 


 http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/12/world/asia/12beijing.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

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And as stated above, Europe is still in recession and it`s getting worse, much worse, an entire generation is on the verge of being lost, reliant upon food stamps and inheritances, this will result in weak travel numbers, falling energy use and a continued worldwide weakness in all sectors..From The Independent


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Young people are bearing the brunt of Europe’s jobs crisis, it was confirmed, as unemployment across the eurozone soared to a record high.

Nearly one in four 16 to 24-year-olds across the 17 nations in the single currency is now out of work, according to monthly figures published by the EU’s data office, Eurostat.

The latest 95,000 rise in April took the overall jobless count to a record 19.38 million people, or 12.2 per cent, and puts unemployment on course to breach the 20 million mark by the end of the year.

The figures come against the backdrop of a eurozone mired in its longest recession since the launch of the  single currency in 1999.
They also prompted fresh criticism of the austerity strategy being pursued by struggling southern European states, with one in four people out of work in Spain and Greece as such measures take their toll.
But young people are suffering the most, with 3.62 million out of work across the single currency bloc – 24.4 per cent of under-25s, a figure up 188,000 on a year earlier.

Well over half of those under 25 in Greece and Spain are not in work, compared to more than 40 per cent in Italy. By contrast in Germany – which has managed until recently to maintain growth despite the wider recession across the eurozone – unemployment stands at a much lower 5.4 per cent and just 7.4 per cent among under-25s.

Tom Rogers, senior economic adviser to the Ernst & Young Eurozone Forecast, warned of a “relentless” rise in youth unemployment. “Youth joblessness at these levels risks permanently entrenched unemployment, lowering the rate of sustainable growth in the future,” he said.


 http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/eurozone-in-crisis-one-in-four-youths-is-jobless-as-unemployment-across-17-nations-in-the-single-currency-reaches-record-high-8639167.html
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So what we are talking about is 25% unemployment level in Europe, 15% unemployed in the USA and over 10% in Canada...Asia has tens of millions of unemployed as does India, tens and tens of millions of unemployed graduates with degrees in the sciences, engineering, in accounting, mathematics and every other high-thought industry, well, this will, under a Harper Government be a deathblow for Canadian graduates too, it`s called the temporary foreign worker program, all these highly trained young people searching the world for employment, with facist corporate controlled Governments and millions of vulnerable youth desperate for any wage will result in a wave of corporate abuse, driving both American and Canadian wages lower..

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China Data Confirm Slowdown in Factories


"BEIJING — Growth in the mainland Chinese manufacturing sector unexpectedly slowed in April as new export orders fell, data released Wednesday showed, raising fresh doubts about the strength of the economy after a disappointing first quarter.

The official purchasing managers’ index fell to 50.6 in April from an 11-month high in March of 50.9. A reading above 50 indicates expansion; below indicates contraction. Analysts had expected the April reading to be 51.
The reading mirrored a similar decline in a preliminary P.M.I. report last week by the British bank HSBC, suggesting that China’s export engine faces obstacles resulting from the euro zone recession and sluggish U.S. growth."


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Ok, so now you are all wondering what the heck this has to do with Enbridge, with oil or energy in general..

Alberta oil is the most expensive to extract, I have heard many reports that the costs to extract are anywhere from 60$ to 80$ dollars per barrel...

With the world in a recession, with wages falling lower and lower for the masses, with taxes up, inflation and buying power diminishing the outlook for energy and commodities is dim, especially with so many countries now flush with new found energies...

Brent Crude versus WTI oil prices, they are very close to merging at the 85$ range, normally there is a big difference in those markets, Brent crude prices being 10 to 20% higher than western Texas Intermediate, but not now, Brent Crude has fallen to below $100 dollars per barrel with WTI(Canadian oil) at 90$...The difference is still 10% but the margin is falling, with such tight margins in the Alberta oil patch, with the Federal Government taking its share, the Alberta Government taking its share, oil companies and shippers taking their share that doesn`t leave any room for British Columbia to get a share of the oil profits, especially when the middle east, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq, Russia and others can extract oil for a mere fraction of the cost Alberta producers can...And with the USA demand falling while production is rising open up huge spare capacity from the middle east and Russia, not to mention the dozens of LNG exporters coming online in the next 2 years, and no, none of those LNG exporters coming online are Canadian or British Columbian...B.C. proposed LNG projects, not one of them have even decided to go forward..

This, as pointed out by many is the problem with being a petro-state, a petro state relying on the vagaries of the energy markets, the energy keeps our dollar higher thus hurting our manufacturers, and when energy prices fall we become a stagnant economy...

And more, economic pundits like Michael Campbell and Michael Levy(idiots) have been blathering about the USA having a strong recovery, it`s bullshit, any job recovery they had and or having is not keeping up with population growth(they need 150,000 new jobs per month to keep up with POP growth) and the jobs recovered are for less money than the ones they replaced, the only recovery in the USA is banks and financial institutes gathering up the $trillions of dollars the Federal Reserve printed, pixels on a computer screen, monies based on nothing, hyper inflation is indeed on its way in America..

Energy whores and the new reality, surplus oil, countries awash in gas and market manipulation, an old line uttered by Spock in the Wrath of Khan movie..

"The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, or the one" 

So here`s the inside scoop on energy, the market is fluid, cleaner nuclear power coming online in China, 25 nuclear plants online by 2020, another 40 by 2030..Japan restarting its nuclear program, hundreds of years of energy rich ocean hydrates have not only been discovered but extracted, we have almost every country realizing that they have vast domestic reserves of natural gas, we have dozens of LNG exporting terminals coming online and now we have excess oil production around the world...All this happening while the world is in recession, 25% world unemployment, hundreds of millions of highly skilled young people without jobs and technocracy, automation, robotization, driverless trucks, self-serve banking, tellerless checkouts at grocers, computer operated facilities, fewer and fewer employees required, super mills, fellerbunchers, automasted mines and cheap outsourcing and or here in Canada corporate controlled ball-busting wage killing temporary indentured employee insourcing.

In other words...The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, or the one, meaning this, pressure is now on to stop the Alberta Crude from coming online, it may well be beneficial for supply to be limited for the protection of the many, more supply means stagnant pricing, in the near to long term it`s more beneficial to keep supplies tighter, in this case price is more important than volume, especially with the high price of extraction of Alberta tar oil..

For if the price of oil falls to $70 dollars Alberta producers literally lose money selling oil, do you sell 2 million barrels per day at a profit or 5 million barrels a day at a loss?

Smart money says make a good profit on a solid domestic market rather than losing your shirt on a wild-west style flood the market with product..Canada, Alberta can`t compete with the middle east or Russia in the cost-per-barrel-extraction game..

For the good of the entire oil industry including the Alberta tar patch it is better to limit supply, not increase it..

"The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, or the one"

WTI oil price todat at the close....$91.61

Brent Crude at the close...............$100.11

Natural Gas at the close................$3.983

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This is what I described as..."The perfect Storm for Asian Energy Buyers"



Anyhow...I am thrilled that the British Columbia Government has rejected Enbridge, I don`t quite trust them but...But what they said about clean-up of bitumen is on the record, on the record and accessible by First Nations and other opponents of Enbridge...Because the fact of the matter, the Straight Goods on cleaning up diluted bitumen in water is...

It can`t be done, as the Fluvial Geomorphologists have said on the record..

"The technology for cleaning up diluted bitumen in cold moving water, salt or fresh doesn`t exist"


http://powellriverpersuader.blogspot.ca/2012/10/mr-jones-versus-fluvial-goemorphologist.html




The Straight Goods

Cheers Eyes Wide Open



 

Wednesday, May 29, 2013

A Few Words From The Powell River Persuader



There has been lots of post election analysis done, Bill Tieleman is the latest to weigh in, he has an article wherein he describes BC Liberal voters as drones responding to the call of a dog-whistle...His theory is preposterous..

Lets be perfectly clear on a few obvious facts, the media was against the NDP(especially since they vowed to end non-essential Government advertising)...But, the media has always been against the NDP, this was to be expected, the Liberals negative campaign started 18 months before the election..

Adrian Dix made a mistake in announcing before the election that he was removing the Government RESP(advertising by government)...Yes that RESP is unfair and a long way off, but by removing it wasn`t going to garner any votes, only lose votes, the change of heart on Kinder Morgan, again, it gained him no votes, that move wasn`t going to stem the flow of votes to the Green party, and it wasn`t fatal.

Adrian Dix`s campaign was one of muzzled candidates, their star John Horgan and others became muzzled, outside of candidates speaking at all candidate`s meeting the stars were ordered muzzled, and even that turned disastrous when Charlie Wyse told his audience that the NDP would be having a moratorium on fracking, how come Charlie Wyse didn`t know the NDP platform?

The bottom line on why the NDP lost the 2013 election was because Adrian Dix was a flawed candidate from the beginning, a flawed candidate who didn`t fight, he took the brunt of the personal attacks from the Liberals laying down, Sun News and other local media outfits chimed in too..Adrian Dix was called names, called dishonest and he showed no backbone, only with a perfect candidate could the NDP have afforded to lay back and play rope-a-dope..Adrian Dix was far from perfect, and that is something that Bill Tieleman fails to recognize, and that`s the problem the NDP has today, until we admit why we lost 2013 election we will never achieve victory..

Background on Adrian Dix`s leadership win... Bill Tieleman was in fact Adrian Dix`s leadership guru, Adrian Dix was Bill Tieleman`s candidate, and that`s why Bill Tieleman won`t face the music, won`t face the real facts, Tieleman goes out writing about Christy Clark blowing a dog-whistle to bring the BC Liberal voters back into the fold...

The BC Liberals in election 2013 lost about 1% of their vote total from 2009..The NDP lost near 4% of their 2009 vote totals, in other words with all that ammo, all the scandals, the debt, deficits and a mentally weak BC Liberal leader Christy Clark, Adrian Dix couldn`t even hold the vote we had....

The public rejected Adrian Dix......

Throughout the internet, can anyone even name one popular BC Liberal promoting blogger?, I can`t....On comment threads in the mainstream press, Facebook comments, CBC comments, the BC Liberal supporters were few and far between...Yet almost all low-information voters voted against Adrian Dix..

Yes the pollsters screwed the NDP, the media was against us, and unfortunately we had a leader who hurt us too, hurt us fatally, we can`t settle for a flawed candidate, second or third best we need the brightest star possible..

I had a bit of an online squabble with Bill T over at the Tyee on his article..

And let me be perfectly clear, I don`t care if Tieleman argues over things I said or predicted, that`s fair game....

But in the comment thread Bill T called me out as being not worthy of being listened to because I commented at the Tyee under the name Misssion Impossible....Here is what Bill Tieleman stated in his comment to me(cut n pasted)


"Bill Tieleman replies to "Mission Impossible" and "Bacedas"

"Mission Impossible" or Grant or Brian: First, if you want your criticism to be taken seriously, try putting out your real name."

First off, Bill T knows exactly who I am as we have had email and phone conversations...Secondly, the entire comment thread is littered with comments with internet handles, not names but handles, on Bill T`s blog most of his commenters comments are under anonymous names...

Yet Bill T chose to come at me with a strawman argument, that friends is childish, no comments should be discounted because you are unsure of the commenters real name...

And for the record, three plus years ago I commented at the Tyee under my real name, and when I did, Brad Zubyk posted my HST canvassing status online at the Tyee, then when I created this blog the same Brad Zubyk created an attack website that went after me personally, in that site Brad Zubyk posted my name, my address, my phone number, my town, my dad`s name and what business he was in, in that blog Zubyk called me a drunk, delusional and worse, Brad Zubyk also told the very few readers that went there to send money to my email address...None was sent as there was no paypal ..But mainly because no read Brad Zubyk`s blog, ...His scribbling was amateurish and mentally deranged...Brad Zubyk personified...

And a few months later my home was torched and animals killed, my 26 year old Siamese cat, my 17 year old tabby and 15 year old Charlie cat, not to mention every personal item I owned gone....

I wrote several stories about it...including this one..

 http://powellriverpersuader.blogspot.ca/2012/02/soot.html

And here is the mentally disturbed site Zubyk created to go after me..


http://briangough.blogspot.ca/

These facts are well-known to most at the Tyee and here...

Many have asked why I write under the name Grant G....Grant G was my dad...I had no internet, no computer or typing skills, my dad had a computer up coast and he asked me to play with it, figure it out...All I could early on is read stuff and email, when I emailed people, even when my name was written in the content of the letter everyone called me Grant, it was because of the name on the email.....And when I was persuaded by Ross K to start a blog, I never thought it would amount to anything, and when I set up with blogger, through email they called my Grant...So when I first posted a story there it was, the articles written by Grant Gough....I managed to figure out how to remove the ough...And left Grant G....

And throughout my life, because I look like ans sound like my dad I was called Grant Junior

My dad was alive and he was thrilled with receiving emails about his articles, it turned into a running joke between dad and I....And to tell you the truth, he was never prouder of me over the stories written, and he kinda liked being praised by his friends for his stories...

And so the pen name was created, yet almost everyone knows who I am, and those who don`t who cares, it doesn`t change the gist of my articles...

John Horgan knows who I am, the Tyee knows who I am, Bill Tieleman knows who I am, Robin Mathews and BC Mary, Kootcoot knows, it doesn`t change a damn thing...

Alex Tsakumis(who has like 20 million readers) has told everyone on his website on multiple occasions what my real name is, he also called me a drunk, drug addict and insane, ...Brad Zubyk(cool hand luke) on the Tyee has said in comments many times what my real name is too..In fact that sicko Brad Zubyk`s website has been posted here and at the Tyee by me on many occasions as I was calling Zubyk out...

So here Bill Tieleman was being a tool trying to create a strawman argument to discredit my arguments on his dog whistle obfuscation article..


 http://thetyee.ca/Opinion/2013/05/28/What-Beat-BC-NDP/

So yes, I got royally pissed at Bill Tieleman when he tried to dismiss my comments out of hand because they were written under the name Mission Impossible(Tyee comment name of mine, at one time), because he knows my name, that was a lowdown dirty move...especially when 95% of all comments on all websites and blogs are under an aliases, including Bill T`s own site....Who comments with their real name?

And when I used(early on) my real name(Brian Gough) on the Tyee, who goes after me?...Brad Zubyk, with an attack website, a slanderous one, a slanderous website that led some freak to my home who burnt down my world and killed my animals..

Brad Zubyk attacked every commenter at the Tyee who used his or her real name...He would research their name and post slanderous personal attacks...Brad Zubyk is a slimy piece of garbage, a gutless puke, a coward, a BC Liberal bootlicking woof woof hounddog..I`m being polite

Time for you to man-up Bill T....We are all upset with the election 2013 results but dog-whistles didn`t cost us the election, your flawed candidate Adrian Dix who ran a lousy campaign did..

And as for my Tyee name Mission Impossible, that has been banned today for speaking my mind, for speaking the Straight Goods, as had my Tyee name from three years ago been banned...

Message to Bill Tieleman and all NDPers, .....

Unless we are honest with ourselves as to why we lost the election we`ll never figure out how to actually win one...

 http://powellriverpersuader.blogspot.ca/2013/05/are-there-no-more-honouale-men-hari.html

We might want to start here..


 http://powellriverpersuader.blogspot.ca/2011/04/born-to-lead-honourable-john-hogan.html


We can`t win with a flawed candidate, we have enough trouble winning with the best...

I wish you well Bill Tieleman, we need your skill in the near future...

Time to move on, something about spilled milk and water under the bridge..

The same as it ever was....


The Straight Goods

Cheers Eyes Wide Open








Outsourcing and Corporatism, Ronald Regan`s and Stephen Harper`s Fatal Contagious Disease





The downturn of civilized democratic society was caused by these men and their draconian ideologies.


 http://www.onlinemba.com/blog/video-why-outsourcing-is-bad-for-business?ref=single

 http://www.onlinemba.com/blog/video-why-government-should-not-run-like-a-business

What happens next, who knows, the damage is done....Stephen Harper ideology is one of control, obedience, punishment with no carrots, only carrots promised but never delivered.

Canadians have identified Stephen Harper for what he is, a little lying piece of garbage who couldn`t manage a popsicle stand, a stuck in the 18th century who doesn`t believe in science, human rights or natural justice.

Canada`s experiment with Stephen Harper is almost over, his power and clout gone, so frustrated with Harper and the Conservatives that Canadians will vote for even Justin Trudeau as a replacement, or a cat, or an orange pylon, in fact Canadians will vote for a picture of a sasquatch if it means the end of Reganism..eer, Harperism.

Thanks to Amy Clark for the videos, and the inspiration for this sassy little post.


The Straight Goods

Cheers Eyes Wide Open




Tuesday, May 28, 2013

LNG Premium Price Downward Spiral, The Perfect Storm For Asian Energy Buyers


Written by Grant G


Christy Clark and the BC Liberals entire 2013 platform was based on unrealistic LNG future revenues, the debt to be eliminated, sales tax to be shelved, bridge tolls removed, BC Ferries and BC Hydro debts eliminated as well as a promised prosperity fund worth $hundreds of billions of dollars for future generations.

It`s time for the media, the mainstream media to do a little bit of the heavy lifting and start actually reporting the new reality of LNG pricing, why is this task left to a handful of online writers and bloggers, it`s not that I mind breaking virgin ground on the topic but more importantly the people of British Columbia deserve the truth, future generations and uneducated voters deserve the Straight Goods on the topic.

Back in 2006 through 2008 when Henry Hub LNG prices were over $12 dollars per unit the American energy companies ramped up and built, or should I say started to build many LNG import terminals, 10`s of $billions were spent in anticipation of the USA weaning off of coal and moving towards natural gas to power electrical generating stations...That was the reality of that time in history, but before any of those import facilities came online the market changed, fracking technology, the genie was released from the bottle, in other words, America realized that they are awash in natural gas, so much so that those import facilities were scrapped and now America is on the verge of being not only energy self sufficient but actually being a energy exporting power to be reckoned with....

Just think of that implication, countries like Qatar, Australia, and even Canada were planning on filling America`s LNG needs, that need is now gone, the world`s largest market for energy literally overnight dashed the wet dreams of the world`s largest energy companies.

The price of North America natural gas crashed to historic lows, it also sent reverberations through a monster in size coal industry, for now both the price and demand for coal in America fizzled, meanwhile...

Meanwhile countries like Australia had already started building massive LNG export facilities, two plants come online this year with three more LNG export plants coming online in 2014, yet the emerging north America market for LNG had evaporated before it even started, all of a sudden LNG export companies had to rethink their strategy, all eyes were now focusing on Asia and the premium price they were prepared to pay, Russia, who had the lion`s share of the Chinese market and most of Europe spotted this trend and quickly moved to increase pipeline capacity directly into China, and they weren`t alone, Kazakhstan who are sitting on massive reserves of gas punched a pipeline into China as well, these countries were wanting to protect and be first into China with ample long-term supply...

Russia`s largest energy company Gazprom was notorious for ruthless tactics in Europe, they demanded ultra high prices for gas, any countries who balked at paying the premium quickly found the gas supply shut off, literally freezing entire nations resulting in death, many many deaths, Gazprom was literally sitting in cat-bird seat, as they had the only supply, that too is changing, and changing rapidly, Vladimir Putin, Russia`s leader had/has a goal of being the world`s largest energy provider, however a monkey wrench was tossed into the mix, countries like Norway soon discovered that they were sitting on vast reserves of accessible gas too, they offered Europe discounts of 20% or more, Gazprom, Russia`s largest exporting energy company found its exports in decline, this decline in exports angered Vladimir Putin to no end, as Russia was taking some skim from all sales, with sales declining Russia`s income was in decline, Gazprom was literally ordered to lower the price of gas for its European customers, Gazprom balked at reducing their share to please the state...Industry experts from other energy companies started laughing at Gazprom`s take-it-or-leave-it conditions, with new supplies coming online around the world and including European countries which were customers of Gazprom..Poland for example, a country that has seen the wrath of Gazprom when there were cut off of natural gas for balking at the price has vowed to never be under the thumb of Gazprom again, and have now invested $billions of dollars to develop their own newly discovered vast reserves of shale gas, now easily accessible through the out of the genie`s bottle fracking technology..

Gazprom finally stood up and took notice, most European countries are now getting 20% to 30% discounts on the premium prices of the past..

I could list a hundred massive new gas discoveries around the world..East Africa has discovered vast reserves, Mozambique river basin has a hundred plus years of supply, Australia who have had near $200 billion spent in LNG export facilities, and they have vast reserves available to supply these plants, another $100 billion is being spent on floating LNG facilities for use in Australia...Russia has discovered even more large gas reserves in Siberia, muskeg gas, reserves even larger than Northeast BC gas reserves..I mentioned Poland, the east coast of Canada is looking to develop their vast natural gas reserves too, America is awash in gas, and now Japan and Korea have discovered how to extract ocean hydrates, a brand new form of gas energy, hundreds of years of supply..Korea has balked and torn up MOU`s deals for buying Australian gas at premium prices, two large long-term energy buying deals have been struck with American firms to supply Japan with LNG, prices now linked to the north America Henry Hub price, not the Asian premium price...China also, they have discovered they possess over 300 years of supply of domestic natural gas...And China, China is going full-blow nuclear as well, by 2020 over 25 nuclear/electrical generating plants are coming online and another 42 nuclear plants to come online by 2030..New cleaner nuke facilities, facilities that create no nuclear waste, China`s LNG demand will not utilize the world`s supply..

And there is another factor in play, coal burning, cleaner burning coal with new scrubbing technology, with the world accessing new found LNG supplies, the price for coal has fallen, putting many coal companies out of business, and for some, the glut of natural gas around the world has forced coal producers to sharpen their pens, to lower their prices....

This too affects the LNG pricing premium, or lack thereof, for anyone thinking they can hold China and Korea hostage for premium priced LNG are in for a rude awakening, these countries will simply resort to using coal, using cheap coal...For none of these coal companies are prepared to surrender their industry without a fight, all this action is creating a perfect storm for energy buyers..A storm of cheap abundant energy resources...

We have world demand for oil falling, China is in a slowdown, Europe is in long-term recessionary mode, Canada and America have flat wages and rising consumer debt, world forecasts are for slow growth..Any spike in energy costs with merely aggravate the slowdown..As many wise people have said, without consumer buying power who will buy the goodies corporations produce, a catch 22 situation, outsourcing to third world cheap labour countries, products produced on the cheap, more and more wage levels in the western developed countries are falling, not rising but falling as the corporate screws cry productivity woes, code talk for wages are too high, yet wages in China or India, Vietnam and or Korea won`t afford consumers there to buy $5 dollar Starbuck`s coffee or $500 dollar iphones, those Asian and Indian wages won`t drive air traffic or custom made tailored suits, the race to the bottom continues.

Corporations may be able to sell hundreds of millions of units of goods in China or India but at what price, yes I`m talking about economies of scales, selling 20 million units at $500 dollars each or sell 200 million units at $50 dollars each....You end with the same dollar value only corporations will have to produce 10 fold the product, 10 fold the labour, 10 fold the materials required to produce..This scenario is rapidly approaching, and the corporate mindset still hasn`t figured it out, Canada`s fraudulent temporary foreign worker program is a glaring symptom of this emerging corporatism disease..

Meanwhile our 2013 BC election was fought with false propaganda that our local media ignored..Our debt, deficits, tolls, taxes and entire future depends on the false assumption that the BC Liberals foisted on the mentally weak..

Christy Clark answered every question with LNG $trillions..And, we are in a global world, utterances blathered by Canadian politicians are indeed heard around the world, what do you think China and Japan feel like, at every turn Christy Clark called these grand nations marks, like a three-card-monty dealer, Christy Clark told British Columbia voters that British Columbia, who at this time has no LNG industry, no shovels in the ground, no decisions made to even build a plant, Christy Clark told all that little old British Columbia are going to lift Japan and China up by the ankles and shake these countries down for decades to come, shake then down for every coin in their pockets when there is a worldwide energy glut and slowdown..

All the while our British Columbia media wandered around with hands in pockets looking at the floor, no questions asked, no answers received, if Christy Clark said white is black and up is down, good enough for our media..

Anywho, rather than giving you some cut n paste I`ll let you peruse the links..I`ll put them in order of importance..

This link talks about $60 billion dollars in energy buying contracts shelved.

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/mining-energy/lng-costs-in-focus-as-60bn-gas-deals-shelved/story-e6frg9df-1226652612279

This link is about another energy buying deal struck between Japan and the USA, a deal linked to the Henry Hub price ...

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http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/e776f43c-70fd-11e2-9d5c-00144feab49a.html#axzz2Ubbgl615

Japan’s Tepco signs gas deal with US

Japan’s largest gas consumer has signed a deal to buy liquefied natural gas from the US, as the shale revolution that has transformed the North American energy industry begins to shake up other regions.
Tokyo Electric Power, Japan’s largest utility, has agreed a supply contract starting in 2017 with Cameron LNG, a proposed export project in Louisiana backed by Sempra Energy of the US, Mitsui and Mitsubishi of Japan, and GDF Suez of France.

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This next link is all about Gazprom, Russia`s largest energy exporting company being forced to lower their prices, it`s a long read but very informative..

http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article40241.html


This next link is about Japan`s newest energy discoveries, ocean hydrates..


http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/13/business/global/japan-says-it-is-first-to-tap-methane-hydrate-deposit.html?pagewanted=1&_r=2&ref=offshoredrillingandexploration&adxnnlx=1368810826-qinBavfpmX719FH4mps63Q&

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http://www.businessspectator.com.au/news/2013/4/2/resources-and-energy/fitch-outlook-bleak-australian-lng

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It`s time BC`s media got off their fat lazy asses and did some actual work, whether or not any BC LNG export plants get built is secondary to the debate, two things are very apparent, the jobs associated with LNG export plants advertised and promoted during our 2013 election is pure myth, the job numbers are utter bullshit..And historically, Natural gas has always been a very tiny employer in British Columbia..

http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/sandy-garossino/lng-jobs-economy_b_3263681.html

Secondly, Christy Clark proposed hoisting up China and Japan by their ankles and shaking them down for old-outdated historic high prices for LNG, those proposed monetary promises will never accrue at the levels advertised...Especially when the Australian Government has massive taxpayer subsidies for energy companies, they can write off all their capital expenses in 7 years, in BC, it will take Canadian LNG companies 27 years to attain that, meaning we are not only years behind the competition we are also not competitive, Australia will be able to deliver LNG cheaper..The Harper Government said flat-out no to capital tax breaks for BC LNG companies..

http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Finance+Minister+Flaherty+nixes+request+break+help+liquefied+natural+industry/8133958/story.html#ixzz2UYkgu4cg

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Time for the media to ask some hard questions, and maybe even a follow-up question or two..

Sheesh


The Straight Goods

Cheers Eyes Wide Open



Sunday, May 26, 2013

Christy Clark Heads West To Sell LNG Powered Unicorns





Well well well, unelected Christy Clark is planning another most excellent adventure to Asia, Mz Clark is heading to the orient to identify and lock in long-term energy buying contracts..
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"In a meeting with reporters later, Clark said she will lead a trade mission to Asia soon to identify and lock in markets for LNG. She said much as Bennett used hydro power to open up B.C, she sees LNG as the industry that will build B.C.’s new economy.
The Liberals are banking on revenues from LNG sales to pay down B.C.’s debt within 15 years."

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Of course that does present a wee bit of a problem, we haven`t got any LNG for sale, three export licenses have been granted to these prospective builders of LNG plants, but none, I repeat none of these companies have actually committed to build one..

Australia has 2 LNG plants coming on line next year and 4 more by 2016....And there are many other monkey wrenches being thrown into the mix..

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CHENIERE Energy, the Houston-based company that is the frontrunner among potential North American LNG exporters, has reaffirmed its operating target date of late 2015 for the export terminal it is building at Sabine Pass on Louisiana’s Gulf coast.

Reporting its first quarter results, Cheniere said in early May that the first two gas processing trains, each of 4.5 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) capacity, are on track for commissioning in 2015-16, with first gas from Train 1 in “late 2015.” 


Cheniere plans to build up to six trains at Sabine Pass for a total capacity of 27 million tonnes. It has signed 20-year sales agreements with five big customers – BG Group, Gas Natural Fenosa of Spain, Korea Gas, GAIL India and Total Gas and Power, covering most of the output from the first four trains, but will also have about 2 mtpa left over for spot sales. In addition, it signed a 20-year agreement in March with UK-based energy utility Centrica covering deliveries from the fifth train.




Cheniere is also proposing to build a separate LNG export terminal at Corpus Christi in Texas by 2017, and has received US government approval to export up to 15 mtpa from this facility.

Cheniere’s emergence as the first new North American LNG exporter will pit it squarely against Qatar and the wave of Australian production coming from the three LNG export plants now under construction at Gladstone on the Queensland coast, and expansions and additions to various North West Shelf gas projects.

Along with potential new suppliers in Africa and Russia, this means Asia’s big gas buyers – essentially Japan, South Korea, China, Taiwan and India – will have more choice and the chance of more competitive prices.

In the wake of the 2011 tsunami and the shutdown of Japan’s nuclear power industry, gas demand has soared in North Asia.

 Some energy utilities have had to pay spot rates as high as $20 per million metric British thermal units (mmbtu), though the average import price in Japan last month fell to about $14.50/mmbtu. Cheniere anticipates it can land gas in Asia for $10.60/mmbtu based on a Henry Hub price of $4.


The cost of LNG is usually linked to a percentage of the world oil price, but the potential for North America to liquefy its abundant and cheap shale gas and ship it to Asia has raised the tantalising prospect of LNG linked to the much lower US Henry Hub gas prices.

Before Sabine Pass or any of the Gladstone projects come onstream, the $19 billion ExxonMobil-Oil Search venture in Papua New Guinea is expected to begin first LNG exports from its 6.6 mtpa Port Moresby facility in 2014. All of its output is committed to buyers in China (Sinopec), Japan (Osaka Gas, Tokyo Electric Power Co) and Taiwan’s Chinese Petroleum Corp.
This time last year, the expectation was that the first new LNG exporter to enter the market in the 2012-14 period would be the Sonangol-Chevron 5.2 mmtpa Angola LNG plant at Soyo on the west coast of Africa, with first shipments planned for the second half of 2012. But a series of technical issues has pushed back its starting date, with Chevron now saying shipments will begin “in the second quarter of 2013.”

In Algeria, state-run oil and gas company Sonatrach aims to have its expanded LNG export plants at Skikda and Arzew ready in late 2013, mainly to supply Europe. At Skikda, Sonatrach is building a new 4.5 mtpa processing train to replace facilities destroyed in a 2004 explosion, while at Arzew it is adding a 4.7 mtpa train. Another Sonatrach gas project in Algeria, Gassi Touil, may begin shipments in the second half of 2014 – well behind schedule.

Originally, it was to be completed in 2009 under a since-terminated joint venture with Spanish companies Repsol and Gas Natural Fenosa.
Sonatrach also supplies gas to Europe via three pipelines linking Algeria to Spain and Italy.

China, the world’s biggest energy user, takes LNG from Australia and the Middle East, but also relies heavily on pipelines. This month, a new 770 km gas pipeline from Myanmar’s Kyaukpyu port in the Bay of Bengal to Kunming in Yunnan province is expected to become operational, while in July, Turkmenistan will be able to supply more gas into the double-pipe 1830 km Central Asian Gas Pipeline (CAGP) that runs from Turkmenistan to China via Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan.

Russia sends vast quantities of gas to Europe through an extensive pipeline network, and is keen to expand pipeline gas sales to China. Russian state-owned gas giant Gazprom also plans to build an LNG export terminal at Vladivostok by 2018, with Japanese customers in mind.

 http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/mining-energy/cheniere-reaffirms-lng-export-date/story-e6frg9ef-1226641319855
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Where was I, oh yea, Christy Clark is heading east to sell energy buying contracts when not one energy company has green-lighted any British Columbia project, not even one has even decided to build, several proposed LNG plants are waiting until sometime in next two years before even deciding to go ahead and build, I might not be an economist, however, when LNG plants are coming on stream everywhere, when Cheniere has already signed long-term energy contracts with Japan at 1/2 the price Christy Clark claimed we would get during the election..

Does Christy Clark have permission to match those prices Cheniere has offered?...Can any LNG plants even be built in B.C when the price is now linked to Henry Hub, not linked to oil...What exactly will Christy Clark say?...Will she tell Japan and China that B.C.`s proposed LNG projects might get the nod to start building in 2014 or 2015...Or they may not?

Seems to me it would be a very difficult sell to get anyone to ink a long-term deal for energy buying when there isn`t even a shovel in the ground, and won`t be for years..

We have the BG group proposing to build, but they haven`t made a final decision yet, they have tentatively scheduled a start build date of ..2016 with completion in 2021...

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"BG intends to build a facility on Ridley Island capable of producing 21 million tonnes of LNG a year. Called Prince Rupert LNG, it would be built overseas in modules and shipped to Prince Rupert for assembly.

 Even so, the plant would create 3,500 jobs during construction,

 250 permanent direct jobs and another 250 spinoff jobs.

 BG says it is planning to build it in two phases, beginning in 2016.
The first phase — two seven-million-tonne-a-year processing units, or trains — is to be completed by 2021" 

http://www.vancouversun.com/technology/Group+takes+first+step+building+massive+Prince+Rupert+plant/8351636/story.html#ixzz2SgT5qfkm

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2021 as a proposed start shipping date, that is if they even build the damn thing...That does sound like a tough sale considering more than a dozen LNG plants around the world will be online within 3 years, several this year and several more in 2014...Yet Christy believes she has some clout..ahem..

There is also Petronas...They too are proposing a LNG plant in BC...

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?Malaysian energy giant Petronas has begun early engineering work for a massive British Columbia natural gas export project, and is weeks away from applying to send energy offshore and build a pipeline to the West Coast.

On Tuesday, Petronas said it had contracted three engineering consortia for front-end engineering and design of its Pacific NorthWest LNG project, which the company hopes to build in Prince Rupert, B.C.........



Petronas is one of a large group of giant energy companies pursuing hugely expensive plans to liquefy Canadian natural gas and load it on tankers bound for Asia. The company got its start later than some of its rivals, but said Tuesday it is pressing forward on several fronts.

 It expects to apply to the National Energy Board for a natural gas export permit in the next month; TransCanada Corp., which has agreed to build a pipeline to the coast, expects to submit an application for that project by the end of next week.
Petronas also continues to talk with other potential partners about selling off up to half of its project, in deals expected to be similar to one that saw it give up 10 per cent to Japan Petroleum Exploration last month, for an undisclosed sum.

“We have all the pieces coming together to have a successful project,” Mr. Kist said. Petronas hopes to make a final investment decision by late 2014, and begin exports by 2018.

However, many observers expect only a minority of planned LNG projects to be built. Those interested in the Prince Rupert area, like Petronas, face First Nations hurdles, with numerous overlapping claims to federal port lands there. Cost and complexity are also major issues in designing facilities that could cost tens of billions of dollars. Australia’s booming LNG industry has seen enormous cost overruns, for example.

 http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/industry-news/energy-and-resources/petronas-launches-engineering-work-for-bc-lng-project/article12048767/

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Ok, you see the highlighted parts, first off, Petronas isn`t even planning on making a final decision on building this project until late 2014 with completion by 2018...They also use the phrase..

"hugely expensive plans to liquefy Canadian natural gas" 

Can any of these projects go-ahead when the new price structure is now linked to the Henry Hub price...At best these plants need over $10 dollars per unit to break even, yet you can`t pay for the construction of, and the financial carrying costs of these very expensive projects by breaking even, they need a premium price, a premium price for decades, and ..

Christy Clark has mused about a B.C. LNG tax and $trillions going into a massive prosperity fund that will pay off our debt, eliminate tolls, pay off BC Hydro`s debt, BC ferries debt, eliminate tolls and all sales tax..Blathering about all this money coming from an industry that has yet to commit to building anything in BC, with a dozen LNG plants around the world all coming on line and the price already dropping, as highlighted by Japan and Cheniere agreeing to a price of $10.50 per unit, that would be $10.50 delivered, the numbers don`t work at that price, that my friends is the reason why no one is building any LNG plants..

Of course there is the other glaring reality on LNG, the industry is in flux, the industry is divesting themselves of both upstream and downstream assets, they are doing this to recoup their investment...Case in point..

This from the horse`s mouth..

"Petronas also continues to talk with other potential partners about selling off up to half of its project, in deals expected to be similar to one that saw it give up 10 per cent to Japan Petroleum Exploration last month, for an undisclosed sum."

A person needs to ask themselves some important questions, if this industry has such potential, a potential for $trillions of dollars why would Petronas be looking to sell their assets? And Petronas isn`t alone in dumping assets........That answer is simple, it`s called Wall Street LNG bears that promoted this fiction to Governments around the world, massive outlays of cash from bankers and hedge funds, $billions invested by suckers in this pipe dream and they want their money back, everyone is wheeling and dealing to get out their commitments without bursting the LNG fantasy bubble..

Andrew Nikiforuk authored some Straight Goods raw data...

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"A former investment banker says the explosion in shale gas development, such as frenzied activity in northern B.C., was a financial mania largely driven by Wall Street bankers intent on capitalizing upon a record $46-billion worth of mergers and acquisitions that shook up the troubled industry in 2011.

In an attempt to meet unrealistic financial production targets (and please Wall Street), the industry drove natural gas prices to uneconomic lows in recent years, throwing the entire industry and its backers into panic mode, says Deborah Rogers in a startling new report for the Energy Policy Forum.
Rogers, who once worked as a financial consultant for Merrill Lynch and is a member of the U.S. Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (USEITI), adds that shale gas reserves have been vastly overestimated and overhyped. 
for resource owners such as the people of British Columbia.

Moreover, new data confirms rapid decline rates and poor recovery levels, which means limited revenue"

 http://thetyee.ca/News/2013/02/20/Natural-Gas-Gluts/

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What we are witnessing, or should I say witnessed is Wall Street fraud again, screwing investors and countries alike with a scheme very reminiscent of the mortgage-backed securities fraud that damn near sunk the world, Wall Street is at it again..!

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 "The controversial technology, which is more capital and energy intensive than conventional gas, allowed firms to access previously uneconomic deposits of gas and blast them apart with high-pressured volumes of chemicals, water and sand. 

An investment frenzy then drove the price of natural gas to record highs and bid land parcels up to outrageous prices. Investment banks promoted the mania even though industry had at the time little or no data on the life, quality and productivity of shale wells over time.
Intense drilling resulted in a massive glut of natural gas that dropped natural gas prices to all-time lows, forcing highly indebted companies such as Encana and Chesapeake to sell off assets and do merger deals with foreign firms.
Opening door for global deals

"It is highly unlikely that market-savvy bankers did not recognize that by overproducing natural gas a glut would occur with a concomitant severe price decline," explains Rogers.

"This price decline, however, opened the door for significant transactional deals worth billions of dollars and thereby secured further large fees for the investment banks involved."

 http://thetyee.ca/News/2013/02/20/Natural-Gas-Gluts/

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Can`t you see what has happened, remember the record profits for land leases the province of British Columbia received in 2006-2007-2008, $billions per year in land leases, that was the only time in the last 12 years that the BC Liberals ran surpluses, it was exactly what was discussed above, now BC`s land sales are virtually nothing, companies have millions of acres of land that they aren`t even drilling on now..

Let me refresh your memory, let`s go back to 2008, let`s talk land sales for oil n gas in northeatern B.C.

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"In the Energy Plan we stated that we would make B.C. among the most competitive oil and gas
jurisdictions in North America. We’ve delivered. Since 2001, the oil and gas industry in B.C. has seen
unprecedented growth and investment.
 In 2008, oil and gas rights sales hit a record high of $2.66
billion. Additionally, B.C.’s established natural gas reserves have increased for the tenth straight year.
The Province has introduced programs to attract new investment into northeastern B.C. and its rich natural gas plays, including incentives to companies that drill outside the traditional winter drilling season,
funding for upgrades to the Sierra Yoyo Desan road, and improvements to our existing royalty programs." 
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 Now let`s jump to 2011/2012/2013...Let`s examine those land sales, the numbers, how puny they are,....You will see that everything discussed above about Wall Street and bankers playing everybody as pawns is true, what Andrew nikiforuk and Mmr. Rogers discussed was true...Check out these land sale numbers..

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"Oil and gas rights sales netted the B.C. government $115 million for the fiscal year just ending, which is about half of what they were in 2011 and 2012.

Revenue generated through bonus bids for March was $41 million through the sale of leases for 25 land parcels in Northeast B.C., according to the Ministry of Energy, Mines and Natural Gas.

Nineteen parcels were sold with an average price of approximately $3,550 per hectare.

That's up compared with March 2012, but down by more than half on an annual basis. In March 2012, sales generated just $24.3 million. But sales were much higher for the 2011-2012 fiscal year at $287 million.


Energy Minister Rich Coleman said, "This month's land sale is another sign that our natural gas is stimulating interest from both Canadian and international investors."

That interest has, in fact, been tailing off in recent years, for two reasons: much of the most productive shale gas lands have already been locked up, and low natural gas prices have meant gas producers have been cutting back on investments.

The revenue generated from land sales in B.C.'s gas fields have fallen dramatically since 2008, a bonanza year that generated $2.66 billion for the province through land sales.
In 2011, sales had fallen to $222 million."

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So what we are witnessing is British Columbia and the energy companies getting caught up in another Wall Street fraud, now these energy companies are making lots of noise but doing nothing, all that is happening is mergers and acquisitions as everyone is trying to cut their losses, and this scam was perpetuated by a compliant Christy Clark and BC Liberal Government, an election ruse, there will be no prosperity fund, no elimination of the debt through LNG..The future generations are going to be very disappointed, those who voted for this fantasy are in for a very rude awakening..
The big winner in this scam?..You guessed it, Wall Street and da bankers..
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 "As soon as operators realized the short life span of shale wells, they began to download assets in 2009. The primary players in one of the first shale gas booms, the Barnett play in Texas, including Encana, Range Resources, Chesapeake and Quicksilver Resources, sold off most of their assets by 2011.
In recent years Wall Street banks helped a wave of foreign energy companies including Chinese, Norwegian and Japanese firms buy up shale oil and gas leases across North America, even though too few wells had been drilled to assess their longevity and quality.


"Shale gas accounted for $46.5 billion in deals in the U.S. alone in 2011," explains Rogers. "The mergers and acquisitions market for shale assets exploded in the prior two years directly in sync with the downward descent of natural gas prices. In much the same way as mortgage backed securities bolstered the banks' profits before the downturn, energy M&A had now become the new profit centre within these banks."

Meanwhile, a variety of shale gas companies are beginning to post write-downs and losses while other firms have not renewed their leases or slowed down drilling altogether. Most firms switched to exploiting natural gas liquids in shale plays and then drove down the price of that resource too."

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Where was I, Christy Clark is heading to the orient to ink energy buying contracts for LNG operations that don`t exist today, and won`t exist for  least 6 to 8 years, or more likely never, and even if one or two LNG plants get built it`s very unlikely that any of the advertised largesse will come to fruition..

Natural gas is everywhere, Russia has increased natural gas pipeline capacity directly into China, east Africa is swimming in gas, China has a 300 year domestic supply, and British Columbia is years behind a myriad of countries like Australia, Qtar, Russia, East Africa in LNG export plant development, in fact not only are there no shovels in the ground in British Columbia nobody has even said yes to building a plant....Those building commitments are years off, who is going to finance these ventures, what bankers are willing to put their money on the line, especially when British Columbia is so many years behind a dozen plus other operations coming online..And with the new price linked to the Henry Hub rate?

And just in case you haven`t heard...Japan and Korea are sitting on a 300 year brand new energy source...And they have tapped it...

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Japanese gas extraction threatens Australian LNG outlook

"News that Japan has become the world's first country to successfully extract gas from a deposit of methane hydrates buried beneath the sea poses a threat to Australia's massive liquefied natural gas (LNG) export industry, according to The Australian.
Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry hopes to begin commercial extraction from the methane hydrate fields within five years, which could prove to be a game-changer for the global gas sector that has come to pursue and rely on strong gas prices and robust demand from Japan.
The prospect of a decline in LNG demand from Japan could threaten Australia's $175 billion worth of LNG development plans.
Japan has been seeking means to reduce its reliance on LNG imports from Australia and elsewhere.
Currently, Japan buys 70 per cent of Australia's entire LNG exports, which were worth $11 billion in total in 2010/11, with forecasts of rising to $30 billion by 2016/17, The Australian reported.
Forecaster Wood Mackenzie warned that if Japanese methane hydrate production is achieved by 2018 it would result in a fall in gas imports that would “severely disrupt the global LNG market, and question the viability of projects in Australia, Malaysia and Papua New Guinea”, the newspaper added."

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"TOKYO — Japan said Tuesday that it had extracted gas from offshore deposits of methane hydrate — sometimes called “flammable ice” — a breakthrough that officials and experts said could be a step toward tapping a promising but still little-understood energy source.

The gas, whose extraction from the undersea hydrate reservoir was thought to be a world first, could provide an alternative source of energy to known oil and gas reserves. That could be crucial especially for Japan, which is the world’s biggest importer of liquefied natural gas and is engaged in a public debate about whether to resume the country’s heavy reliance on nuclear power. 


Jogmec estimates that the surrounding area in the Nankai submarine trough holds at least 1.1 trillion cubic meters, or 39 trillion cubic feet, of methane hydrate, enough to meet 11 years’ worth of gas imports to Japan.
A separate rough estimate by the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology has put the total amount of methane hydrate in the waters surrounding Japan at more than 7 trillion cubic meters, or what researchers have long said is closer to 100 years’ worth of Japan’s natural gas needs." 


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Well, this definitely looks like a problem for Christy Clark, ....Japan, those industrious Japanese people have a hundred plus year supply of their own energy..And Christy Clark thinks she can go overseas and sell long-term energy contracts?.... Perhaps somebody might want to tell Christy Clark we don`t actually have any LNG for sale, we don`t actually have any shovels in the ground, and we don`t actually have any projects scheduled to even be built...

Good luck with that Christy...

Too-bad our mainstream media is gutless, incompetent, and useless...

I wonder when they will tell the voters the bad news?







The Straight Goods

Cheers Eyes Wide Open