How many times have we read a headline that says the oil and gas industry must 'engage', 'evolve', 'discuss', 'harness', 'focus on', 'improve its communication'... It's enough to make you sick. The oil and gas industry uses more platitudes to try to sway people to its side than any other industry on Earth. Which, at this point, is completely unnecessary. Here's a word of advice: stop using platitudes to try to advance your cause - it only delays things further. And delays are losses for [Read more]
WATCH: Energy East protester breaks into hearings, resists arrest, shoves police officer
If you didn't hear, the National Energy Board had to cancel the first day of Energy East hearings in Montreal because protesters broke into the venue and started screaming and chanting while holding up a sign. One protester, who unlawfully broke into the venue, was so bold as to aggressively push a police officer while resisting arrest. Watch the video below: As you can clearly see, he shoved the officer down while resisting arrest. One can only hope he gets charged with several criminal [Read more]
At this point, Notley and Alberta’s NDP are as much to blame as the oil price drop
Yesterday in the BOE Report, contributor Terry Etam wrote a post suggesting the past 50 years of Alberta government help to create the economic problems the province now faces. You can read the story here. Instead of defending PC policies over the past 40+ years, which were at the helm of Alberta's governance while the province was the bastion of economic freedom and prosperity in North America, I will focus on what has been and continues to be a catastrophic NDP-led Alberta government. To [Read more]
While everyone is freaking out about pipelines, Rio de Janeiro keeps pumping raw sewage into its water
The latest pipeline leak in Saskatchewan has many people expressing their concern over the effects that crude oil has on the environment. As with any leak, those opposing pipeline development use the news as fresh evidence in their attempts to convince the world that pipelines mean nothing but harm to society at large. This is, of course, despite the fact that any such leak or compromise in a pipeline's structural integrity occurs in exceptionally rare circumstances. As Yogi Schulz pointed out, [Read more]
After seeing this chart, it’s easy to understand why oil prices crashed so hard
There are many reasons why oil prices crashed, however, one chart sticks out the most when seeking the primary catalyst for the price drop. The United States rig count, developed by Baker Hughes, is one of the major barometers of the oil and gas industry. When oil prices are high, there are typically many rigs drilling for oil, and when prices are lower, rig rates follow suit. But what happens when oil prices are high and newly developed drilling techniques are deployed? An [Read more]
Pipelines are consulted to death, and it’s killing jobs and productivity
Perhaps the biggest loss for oil and gas advocacy groups has been in the arena of consultation. The industry has happily and oftentimes cheered, as if it is major progress, entering the arena of consultation, but what industry has perpetually been stepping into is no less than a death sentence for the most important infrastructure projects this country desperately needs. The Northern Gateway Pipeline approval was just quashed by the federal courts for failing to 'adequately' consult various [Read more]
The Alberta oil-patch’s mass exodus of multinational oil companies
Over the past two years Canada, and specifically Alberta, have seen an unprecedented exit of capital. This has been caused by several factors - topping the list of course is the collapse of oil prices. Of course the oil industry has been hit the hardest, but why have multinationals left Alberta and western Canada when, concurrently, they have maintained (and in some cases increased) operational activity in other parts of the world? There are three reasons for this: higher operating costs, [Read more]
Montreal-based Guardian columnist blames Alberta oil companies for Fort McMurray devastation
In true far-left elitism style, Montreal-based Guardian 'environment writer' (according to his Twitter profile) Martin Lukacs blasted Alberta oil companies as what he called "The arsonists of Fort McMurray". In a column published in The Guardian, Lukacs asserts: Fossil fuel corporations are causing the climate change fuelling mega-fires – and they should be footing the bill for the devastation. The article describes oil sands (or as Lukacs prefers to call it 'tar sands') companies [Read more]
Donald Trump could be the best thing to happen to Canada’s oil and gas industry
We frequently hear overt criticisms of Trump north of the border, where the general news media can't make fun of the man enough. And if he were selected as the Republican presidential candidate, it is a safe bet that Canadian politicians of all stripes would enthusiastically declare their personal opposition to Mr. Trump's candidacy. Yet when considering Canada’s struggling oil and gas industry, Trump would be far more beneficial than either Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders. Donald Trump [Read more]
The History of Alberta’s Debt Position in Charts
Alberta is not the fiscally prudent jurisdiction it once was. This new consensuses comes from each of Moody's, Standard & Poor (S&P), and the Dominion Bond Rating Service (DBRS): the highest profile ratings agencies on the planet. Over the past month, downgrades and alarm bells have been sounded as the provincial government plans on running the largest deficit in Alberta's history and running the province into a negative net-debt position. S&P lowered Alberta’s long-term rating [Read more]