A Liberal government would immediately cancel the Accelerated Capital Cost Allowance for oil sands investment. This is expected to generate nearly $500 million in additional revenue for the federal government over the next two years.
In the platform released yesterday, the Liberals also announced a comprehensive package of other environmental initiatives, well summarized over at Environmental Defense.
Even Harper had intentions of eliminating the ACCA by 2015, as few people, even in Alberta, are clamouring for more tax breaks for the oil industry.
The Liberal green initiative to get the roughest ride from Conservatives and Albertans will no doubt be the cap and trade system announced yesterday by Ignatieff.
Showing posts with label oil sands. Show all posts
Showing posts with label oil sands. Show all posts
Monday, April 4, 2011
Thursday, January 27, 2011
To Watch Tonight - Tipping Point: The Age of the Oil Sands
This new two-hour film by Edmonton filmmakers Tom Radford and Niobe Thompson will be shown on CBC's The Nature of Things, hosted by David Suzuki, tonight at 8:00 p.m.
The CBC touts the film as a visual tour de force which marks the "end of the age of innocence" for the oil sands.
The CBC touts the film as a visual tour de force which marks the "end of the age of innocence" for the oil sands.
Monday, May 24, 2010
Canadian firm Genoil in Discussions with BP re Gulf disaster clean-up
According to a press release dated today, Genoil, of Edmonton, is "in discussions" with BP and "United States authorities" regarding the oil spill disaster in the Gulf of Mexico.
As detailed in my post on Friday, May 21, Genoil is a publicly traded company specialized in upgrader and oil sands related technologies, which include capabilities in both sand cleaning and oil / water separation.
The press release mentions that Genoil is also currently "in discussions in the Middle East regarding oil spills from the first Gulf War of 1991 for extensive oil contamination that covers an astounding 800 miles of beaches at a depth of six feet stemming from tactical military decisions of Saddam Hussein which created one of the greatest ecological disasters in history."
In case the irony is lost on anyone, we could be talking about two of the worst environmental disasters in history here getting cleaned with involvement by Canadian technology spawned in the tar sands that are so reviled by environmentalists.
The press release goes on to address aspects of its equipment that would potentially give it a leg up over Kevin Costner's CINC Industries "Ocean Therapy Solutions" water separators or possibly other competitors.
It appears to me like BP and the U.S. government could bring in all the players to bear on the problem and there would still be a heck of a difficult and expensive clean-up to do. Let's just say that time lost during discussions will result in exponentially higher damage and clean-up expenses in the long run.
The words, Genoil, Costner or CINC do not show up on a search of the BP website. Mind you there is a good deal of material on the response to the spill, as well as invitations for people to register their "ideas" or professional services by phone.
As detailed in my post on Friday, May 21, Genoil is a publicly traded company specialized in upgrader and oil sands related technologies, which include capabilities in both sand cleaning and oil / water separation.
The press release mentions that Genoil is also currently "in discussions in the Middle East regarding oil spills from the first Gulf War of 1991 for extensive oil contamination that covers an astounding 800 miles of beaches at a depth of six feet stemming from tactical military decisions of Saddam Hussein which created one of the greatest ecological disasters in history."
In case the irony is lost on anyone, we could be talking about two of the worst environmental disasters in history here getting cleaned with involvement by Canadian technology spawned in the tar sands that are so reviled by environmentalists.
The press release goes on to address aspects of its equipment that would potentially give it a leg up over Kevin Costner's CINC Industries "Ocean Therapy Solutions" water separators or possibly other competitors.
It appears to me like BP and the U.S. government could bring in all the players to bear on the problem and there would still be a heck of a difficult and expensive clean-up to do. Let's just say that time lost during discussions will result in exponentially higher damage and clean-up expenses in the long run.
The words, Genoil, Costner or CINC do not show up on a search of the BP website. Mind you there is a good deal of material on the response to the spill, as well as invitations for people to register their "ideas" or professional services by phone.
Sunday, May 23, 2010
Canada's Tar Sands as Risky as the Gulf: Report
A typical comment around Canadian water coolers and message boards, when the topic of the BP environmental disaster in the Gulf arises, is: "yeah it's a tragedy but the Alberta oil sands are looking better every day."
Whooaa... not so fast there.
A new report claims that "Canada's Oil Sands Face Significant Financial and Environmental Risks as Great as Those in BP Spill"
The report was commissioned by Ceres and authored by RiskMetrics Group.
At the press conference announcing the report May 17, Ceres President Mindy Lubber said, "The risks for companies involved in developing Canada's oil sands are arguably greater than those in the Gulf of Mexico,"
The report cites numerous risks, including pricing, market conditions, transportation obstacles, water and other resource shortages, first nations issues and the mounting costs and liability connected with land reclamation.
Even without considering environ- mental factors, pricing alone is a potential game breaker. If the price of oil is too low, the oil sands then become uneconomical. But, if the price goes too high, alternative sustainable energy sources suddenly become extremely viable.
What the Gulf situation tells us is that the unthinkable does happen and if something can go wrong it will.
About Ceres
Ceres is leading coalition of investors, environmental groups and other public interest groups working with companies to address sustainability challenges such as climate change. Ceres also directs the Investor Network on Climate Risk, a network of 90 institutional investors with $10 trillion of collective assets focused on the business impacts of climate change.
About RiskMetrics Group
RiskMetrics is a leading provider of risk management and corporate governance services. Its ESG Analytics Group analyzes cutting edge issues like climate change, water and ecosystem services that support the global economy.
Whooaa... not so fast there.
A new report claims that "Canada's Oil Sands Face Significant Financial and Environmental Risks as Great as Those in BP Spill"
The report was commissioned by Ceres and authored by RiskMetrics Group.
At the press conference announcing the report May 17, Ceres President Mindy Lubber said, "The risks for companies involved in developing Canada's oil sands are arguably greater than those in the Gulf of Mexico,"
The report cites numerous risks, including pricing, market conditions, transportation obstacles, water and other resource shortages, first nations issues and the mounting costs and liability connected with land reclamation.
Even without considering environ- mental factors, pricing alone is a potential game breaker. If the price of oil is too low, the oil sands then become uneconomical. But, if the price goes too high, alternative sustainable energy sources suddenly become extremely viable.
What the Gulf situation tells us is that the unthinkable does happen and if something can go wrong it will.
About Ceres
Ceres is leading coalition of investors, environmental groups and other public interest groups working with companies to address sustainability challenges such as climate change. Ceres also directs the Investor Network on Climate Risk, a network of 90 institutional investors with $10 trillion of collective assets focused on the business impacts of climate change.
About RiskMetrics Group
RiskMetrics is a leading provider of risk management and corporate governance services. Its ESG Analytics Group analyzes cutting edge issues like climate change, water and ecosystem services that support the global economy.
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
Alberta Oil - One Glob for the Price of Two Globs
Has anyone noticed the elegantly profitable symmetry that is unfolding in the Alberta oil patch?
A phalanx of oil companies, all of whom swear that they do not have time nor resources to put up a few windmills or do any other reasonable thing, are lining up to get their dibs in on the Athabasca Oil Sands.
Why is this, I wondered to myself.
Of course, the answer came quite easily.
Because these oil sands are a profitable operation.
But, they are really more profitable, even, than meets the eye. That's because there is a special magic in the air in Alberta that actually doubles the sales... and who knows what's going on with the profits? The oil companies are raking it in as it is, of course. Posting gargantuan profits with minimal worries about what the economy is doing. Cheating the public outright at the retail level at every turn. It is mind boggling what they get away with.
But the real sleight-of-hand goes on in the oil sands. Remember, this is the operation where it takes something like 4 times the energy to produce a barrel of oil as it does in conventional oil production. For starters, it takes 1200 cu. ft. of natural gas to produce one barrel of oil in the extraction process of conventional tar sands production. Since a barrel of oil is equal to about 6,000 cu. ft. of natural gas, it's just about like a Tim Horton's coffee card - extract 4 barrels of oil - you get to sell another barrel! Then there is all the other fuel used in the operation. Running all those dump trucks on steroids, shuttling the workers, etc., would all be additional energy burnt and additional Co2 and other emissions in the air and water. Even today, with oil production at possibly 15-20% of the anticipated future levels, the tar sands are consuming 40% of Alberta's natural gas production.
At that point we can consider the barrel of oil delivered, for the purpose of this discussion, but the consumption of fossil fuels associated with that barrel has only just begun. That's because Alberta has the intent of using carbon capture and storage (CCS) to reduce or neutralize the impact of the fuel burnt in the extraction process. In a nutshell, each time the Co2 emissions from one unit of fossil fuel is sequestered in CCS, the equivalent of another 50-75% of a unit of fuel is burnt. As explained in more detail here, this includes 20-30% in the capture, another 20-30% in liquefaction and a long list of other costs, including transportation of the liquid to the storage site, facilities construction, etc.
The net effect is a clusterbomb of fossil fuel consumption. To be sure, there may be few, if any, cases where the oil company running a project is one and the same as the company supplying the natural gas. But it is clear that all of these companies, together with their smaller suppliers and the Province of Alberta, form a common community that, as a whole, stands to realize exceptional benefits from the multiple combustion engine that is the Athabasca Tar Sands.
A phalanx of oil companies, all of whom swear that they do not have time nor resources to put up a few windmills or do any other reasonable thing, are lining up to get their dibs in on the Athabasca Oil Sands.
Why is this, I wondered to myself.
Of course, the answer came quite easily.
Because these oil sands are a profitable operation.
But, they are really more profitable, even, than meets the eye. That's because there is a special magic in the air in Alberta that actually doubles the sales... and who knows what's going on with the profits? The oil companies are raking it in as it is, of course. Posting gargantuan profits with minimal worries about what the economy is doing. Cheating the public outright at the retail level at every turn. It is mind boggling what they get away with.
The coffee card effect
But the real sleight-of-hand goes on in the oil sands. Remember, this is the operation where it takes something like 4 times the energy to produce a barrel of oil as it does in conventional oil production. For starters, it takes 1200 cu. ft. of natural gas to produce one barrel of oil in the extraction process of conventional tar sands production. Since a barrel of oil is equal to about 6,000 cu. ft. of natural gas, it's just about like a Tim Horton's coffee card - extract 4 barrels of oil - you get to sell another barrel! Then there is all the other fuel used in the operation. Running all those dump trucks on steroids, shuttling the workers, etc., would all be additional energy burnt and additional Co2 and other emissions in the air and water. Even today, with oil production at possibly 15-20% of the anticipated future levels, the tar sands are consuming 40% of Alberta's natural gas production.
At that point we can consider the barrel of oil delivered, for the purpose of this discussion, but the consumption of fossil fuels associated with that barrel has only just begun. That's because Alberta has the intent of using carbon capture and storage (CCS) to reduce or neutralize the impact of the fuel burnt in the extraction process. In a nutshell, each time the Co2 emissions from one unit of fossil fuel is sequestered in CCS, the equivalent of another 50-75% of a unit of fuel is burnt. As explained in more detail here, this includes 20-30% in the capture, another 20-30% in liquefaction and a long list of other costs, including transportation of the liquid to the storage site, facilities construction, etc.
The net effect is a clusterbomb of fossil fuel consumption. To be sure, there may be few, if any, cases where the oil company running a project is one and the same as the company supplying the natural gas. But it is clear that all of these companies, together with their smaller suppliers and the Province of Alberta, form a common community that, as a whole, stands to realize exceptional benefits from the multiple combustion engine that is the Athabasca Tar Sands.
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