During President Trump’s recent visit to China, bilateral agreements worth $250-billion were signed between the United States and China. From the raft of agreements signed, the following deals caught my attention: China's top state oil major Sinopec, Bank of China and China Investment Corp agreed to help develop a $43-billion natural gas project in Alaska. Air Products and Chemicals signed an agreement with Yankuang Group for a $3.5-billion coal-to-syngas production facility in [Read more]
If government used a commonsense approach to growing GDP, would the oilpatch still be struggling?
The economic data for August 2017 indicates the Canadian economy contracted after several months of positive growth. Economists are quite shocked and baffled by it. However they should not have been because quite frankly, other than the recovery in the oil prices, the fundamentals were not strong enough to warrant a steady positive run. But then that’s a topic of separate discussion. The crux of the matter is the Canadian economy needs a solid and steady supply of ‘oxygen’ to sustain a good [Read more]
Alberta oilpatch needs to develop innovative alternative modes of oilsands’ crude transport
Canadian pipeline projects for transporting oil sands crude are either getting cancelled or getting embroiled in litigation: Energy East Pipeline project met its demise recently; TransMountain Pipeline project is facing court cases. Thus, Alberta oil’s access to refinery in the East Coast (that imports foreign oil) and access to tide water for export to Asia and other countries have potentially got jeopardized. With approval of Enbridge Line 67, some additional capacity, in the meantime, has [Read more]
Future of Oil Will Be Decided on November 8th US Presidential Election
The Center for Excellence in Project Execution (CEPEX) analysis indicates that the future of Alberta oil sands and global oil will be shaped, in near and long term, by the outcome of US presidential election on November 8. A victory for the Democratic party candidate would continue the status quo for Alberta oil, and the industry is already preparing for a 'lower for longer' bear oil market. President Obama's policies on climate change and renewable energy sources would be expected to [Read more]