Why Nobody Believes The Oil Companies, Why Nobody Trusts The Media To Tell The Truth

A couple of little stories and tweets caught my eye in the last couple of days..

CAPP, the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers in an article published in the Calgary Herald..

____________

Alberta drilling rig count decline linked to NDP's royalty review

 

The provincial government’s royalty review is likely worsening the activity-dampening effects of six-year-low crude prices, industry observers say, as an industry rig count drooped to its lowest level since the spring slowdown this week.

Numbers posted by the Canadian Association of Oilwell Drilling Contractors show there were 117 drilling rigs working in Alberta as of Monday for a utilization rate of 22 per cent. That’s down 15 rigs from the three previous weekly counts when the utilization rate was 25 per cent.

Meanwhile, the number of rigs working in Canada outside of Alberta fell by just one to 67 this week. The overall Canadian utilization rate of 24 per cent on Monday is about half of the 47 per cent rate in the same week last year, the CAODC reported.

The reason for the bigger decline in activity in Alberta is likely evenly split between oil prices and uncertainty caused by the Alberta NDP government’s royalty review, Tim McMillan told the Herald’s editorial board Tuesday, as benchmark crude rebounded to settle at $39.31 US a barrel.
“We are a challenging jurisdiction for several reasons right now,” said the president and chief executive of the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers. “The statement ‘lower-for-longer’ I think is pervasive in the industry and the direction of the price of oil in past few weeks seems to reaffirm that.”

He said the situation is similar to that of 2007-08, when a royalty review by the Conservative government was undertaken at the same time a global economic slowdown fuelled lower commodity prices.

“I think there’s an argument to be made that we saw drilling numbers around the world come off but we did see a very clear trend of Saskatchewan’s investment go up, B.C.’s go up and Alberta’s go down,” said McMillan.

“And, I think, anecdotally, we see that around this industry right now, a slight weighting change in companies to projects that have the long-term stability until clarity is put on Alberta and the math can be re-evaluated as to where it stacks up in a competitive nature to other provinces and jurisdictions.”

http://calgaryherald.com/business/energy/alberta-drilling-rig-count-decline-linked-to-ndps-royalty-review

 

___________

I read some of the comments below the Calgary Herald article and it was clear the people reading the article who are are either pro, or con on big oil, don`t believe a single word from the CAPP president...

 Can you imagine, oil a year ago was over $100 per barrel, today the barrel price is under $40 dollars per barrel, a decline of over 60%...Hello, hello Mr. CAPP president, you come out swinging about the affect of an announced royalty review, when at the most the NDP Notley Government might add $1 dollar to the cost of a barrel, maybe, bringing the government of Alberta a meager $1.3 billion dollars more revenue per year...When the decline in the barrel price is costing Alberta oil producers as much as $60 billion dollars per year!!!!!!

 This is the reason why nobody believes big oil or Stephen Harper, ...Harper has aligned his government with big oil, in fact they are one in the same..Across Canada the price at the pump is virtually the same price when oil was over $100 dollars per barrel...Oh indeed, while oil producers stumble along crying about a future royalty review the refiners are making money hand over fist by gouging consumers...The refiners claim maintenance schedules and coffee breaks are the cause of continued high pump prices...Big oil producers are thieves, indeed..

I wonder when Thomas Mulcair is going to jump on the driverless tarsand truck story..Suncor has ordered thousands of driverless trucks from Japan...Roughly 6000 high paid tar sand truckdrivers are going to lose their jobs to a computer...Suncor is not alone, all the big tar-sand producers are moving to driverless trucks and soon moving to 90% automation..

This is Stephen Harper`s future, more tar sand production while tar sand employment numbers fall...This is the loyalty we can expect from big oil..

 http://www.popsci.com/robot-trucks-will-work-canadas-oil-sands

And then there is BC`s media, the ongoing misinformation in relation to LNG,  in relation to the real employment numbers and in relation to investment dollars..the Vancouver Sun, Vaughn Palmer, the province, Michael Smyth, CKNW, Global BC and Keith Baldrey...They keep blathering that Petronas`s Prince Rupert LNG proposal is a $36 billion dollar investment...It isn`t, never was, never will be, in fact the project is about to be scrubbed altogether..Everyday in the BC Legislature during the summer session to pass LNG legislation every BC Liberal including Rich Coleman, Mike De Jong and Christy Clark blathered about Petronas`s $36 billion dollar LNG proposal....

It`s a lie, a proven lie so stop using that number spindoctors, it`s the reason nobody believes you...

The Petronas Prince Rupert terminal if built has an estimated cost of $11 billion dollars, of which $8 billion plus dollars would be spent in South Korea, Japan and China..

 ___________

Petronas wants engineering work for B.C. LNG venture to be shifted offshore

BRENT JANG

VANCOUVER — The Globe and Mail

Published Thursday, Dec. 04 2014, 5:49 PM EST
Last updated Thursday, Dec. 04 2014, 6:11 PM EST

Petronas plans to push contractors to shift more engineering work for a proposed B.C. liquefied natural gas venture to lower-cost centres offshore as the Malaysian energy giant squeezes suppliers.

Of the total $11.4-billion in estimated construction costs for the Petronas-led Pacific NorthWest LNG export terminal at Lelu Island, there would be $8-billion worth of imported goods and services spread over a five-year period.

 It is in that international component where Petronas hopes to find the bulk of cost savings, but the state-owned company will cast a wide net abroad and in Canada, including having TransCanada Corp. re-examine ways to make its proposed $5-billion natural gas pipeline project more efficient.

 http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/industry-news/energy-and-resources/petronas-pushes-offshore-work-for-british-columbia-lng-venture/article21960284/

____________

Even today, the Vancouver Sun and Vaughn Palmer know the real investment dollar figure for Petronas`s Prince Rupert proposal, they still toss around the $36 billion dollar figure like a Tom Brady inflated football!..

 http://www.vancouversun.com/business/Search+alternate+site+Pacific+NorthWest+terminal+near+Prince/11317722/story.html

That`s real funny in a blatant propagandized way....Even the British Columbia Liquid Natural Gas Alliance (BCLNGA) admits Petronas`s Prince Rupert LNG liquefaction terminal proposal is a $11 billion dollar cost...

   ______________

BC LNG Alliance ‏@bclnga Aug 24

The Pacific NW LNG facility would cost approximately $11 billion to build. http://bit.ly/1UVsxCi 

______________

OK.....So Petronas has admitted their Prince Rupert proposal would cost $11 billion to construct, of which over $8 billion will be dollars spent overseas....The BCLNGA has admitted this fact too...

So how come BC`s mainstream media bandy around the number $36 billion dollars, in fact Michael Smyth, Vaughn Palmer and Sean Leslie have used the number $46 billion dollars Canadian..Another whopper on top of another whopper, for none of the LNG modules are being built in the USA, they will be built in China, South Korea and Japan, all three currencies are down against the US greenback.....Even if you add in the price of the TransCanada LNG pipeline(Petronas is not building a pipeline, they have entered into an agreement for TransCanada to build, operate and profit from the pipeline), ...Even if you added the estimated pipeline cost of $4 billion dollars you are at $15 billion dollars..

How come big media continues to lie about the investment value...How can a BC Liberal Government with a straight face stand and recite the $36 billion dollar number, it`s a lie, a deliberate lie, we aren`t talking about a discrepancy of $1 to $3 billion dollars...We are talking about a 66% to 75% exaggeration in the investment value..

This is why no one believes Christy Clark, Stephen Harper or big oil and LNG....They are deliberate liars..

Lastly, British Columbia will not reap any windfall profits from LNG....As to my last post..Petronas`s Prince Rupert proposal is on the ropes...Shhh...Don`t tell Christy Clark and Rich Coleman...Petronas`s Prince Rupert proposal is about to be deferred to after 2020..

_____________

   

Malaysia's Petronas profit down 47% on oil weakness

 

Kuala Lumpur (AFP) - Malaysian state energy firm Petronas said Friday its second-quarter profit plunged 47 percent, warning of "unrelenting" difficulty as lower world oil prices hit the company's bottom line.

Net profit at Malaysia's only Fortune 500 company for the three months ending June 30 fell to 11.1 billion ringgit ($272.2 million), compared to 21.06 billion ringgit in the same period last year.

"Petronas is bracing itself for more challenges ahead as low oil prices persist," Wan Zulkiflee Wan Ariffin, Petronas president and CEO, said in a statement.

"Overall, it has been an unrelenting difficult period," he added.

The news marks the fourth straight quarter of either weakening year-on-year sales growth or outright losses.

The company posted a $2.02 billion loss in the fourth quarter of 2014, its first since launching quarterly earnings reports five years before.

Petronas is the single largest source of Malaysian government revenue and national export earnings, and its declining fortunes will add to concerns over the economic prospects of a country heavily dependent on oil exports.

Growth is slowing, and the ringgit currency is daily plumbing 17-year lows due largely to the fears over the rout in oil prices, which hit a fresh six-year nadir in US trading on Thursday.

"Petronas does not foresee a reprieve from the low oil prices in the near future," Wan Zulkiflee said.

Revenue tumbled 28 percent to 61.30 billion ringgit during the second quarter.

Wan Zulkiflee painted a grim picture going forward, saying cash flow this year was not expected to meet capital expenditure plans or dividend commitments.

"This means that we will have to persevere with more austerity measures," he said.

The company has in recent months outlined austerity measures such as deferring some key projects.

 http://news.yahoo.com/malaysias-petronas-profit-down-47-oil-weakness-113400339.html;_ylt=AwrTceN1Et5VvAUAn6cnnIlQ;_ylu=X3oDMTByNWU4cGh1BGNvbG8DZ3ExBHBvcwMxBHZ0aWQDBHNlYwNzYw--

____________

"Deferring some key projects"

Petronas will play the stall game for another 6 months before officially pulling the plug...

Lastly, it was reported that Christy Clark and the BC Liberals are going to hold a Fall-Session in the BC Legislature..

 http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Premier+announces+fall+sitting+legislature/11311364/story.html

This is rather unusual for the BC Liberals, a political party with Canada`s worst legislative record in terms of sitting days...

This move made my political radar alarm start beeping...What are they up to, why a Fall Session?

And then the answer fell in my lap...A source told me there is more LNG legislation being brewed up...

Remember David Keane, president of Christy Clark`s LNG promotional panel known as the BCLNGA?...Remember what was asked/demanded for by by the BCLNGA, within days of the BC Liberals ramming through sell-out LNG legislation in a rare summer sitting, David Keane and the BCLNGA came out with this demand..

____________

 

VICTORIA – A liquefied natural gas industry: the British Columbia government fought an election on it, launched an extraordinary summer legislative session and made financial concessions, but it still isn’t enough for the companies that want even lower taxes and have expressed concerns over the availability of workers.

The Liberal government’s LNG dream is expected to move towards reality this week when a bill is adopted for a 25-year agreement on what could be B.C.’s first LNG plant.

B.C.’s politicians were recalled this month to debate and pass a single piece of legislation that aims to provide certainty to LNG investors and revenues to the province.

“I think there’s more work to do in terms of making sure we are in fact globally competitive,” said B.C. LNG Alliance president David Keane. “I think the government has more to do.”

Pacific NorthWest LNG, a joint venture backed by Malaysian state-owned energy giant Petronas, plans to build a US$36-billion LNG plant at Lelu Island near Prince Rupert. It will be the largest private investment in B.C. history and the LNG Project Agreements Act seeks to provide a 25-year buffer against LNG-targeted tax increases but allows increases in corporate and sales taxes.

“There are things that can be done in terms of some of these taxes, like the (provincial sales tax) PST,” said Keane. “These projects will pay hundreds of millions of dollars in PST taxes, which typically, if you are classified as a manufacturing facility, you are not subject to.”
B.C. is the only jurisdiction where LNG companies must pay LNG income tax and a carbon tax, he said, adding they will also pay PST, GST, payroll, provincial and federal corporate taxes and municipal taxes.

 http://globalnews.ca/news/2119431/lng-industry-wants-more-from-b-c/

____________
 
There it is again, the $36 billion dollar lie....A source informed me that the BC Liberals are planning on bringing legislation that will allow LNG companies to avoid paying any PST, and more...The BC Liberals are planning on bringing in a HST type arrangement for LNG companies...Meaning these LNG companies will get all their taxes back, PST and GST....Yes the GST is federal jurisdiction and it must be paid, however, British Columbia`s BC Liberal Government will refund/rebate these LNG companies back the money...You the taxpayer will pay...An industry specific HST...Remember the HST, the tax we BCers rejected through referendum..The HST....It`s coming back for LNG..___________

The Straight Goods

Cheers Eyes Wide Open