Between the two of us, a friend and I have spent almost an entire career in the oil and gas industry even though we’re not engineers or geologists or lawyers or accountants. We’re information technology (IT) guys. We discovered early, and were reminded often, that IT is not a core function of oil and gas companies. They are largely driven by geology and engineering with everything else more-or-less tied for last. When starting, you make your bundle by finding the black, shiny stuff and bringing … [Read more...]
It Gives Me No Great Pleasure to Say “I Told You So”
My friends at the BOE Report dropped me a line to say that “you were right and do you have any comment?” Puzzled, I had to think for a moment. “You were right, back in September, when you wrote Pacific Northwest LNG: Canada is a day late and dollar short in this business." Oh, right, I remember now. I have to be honest, I had nearly forgotten about the article I dashed off in a fit of pique when I saw and then wrote: “Smiling politicians in Ottawa, Edmonton and Victoria will be slapping … [Read more...]
Pacific Northwest LNG: Canada is a day late and dollar short in this business
I have to say that this recent, so-called approval has a kind of 'please come to our destination wedding' feel to it. You know what that is, right? Seinfeld's unvitation. A wedding invitation given out with almost the express purpose of limiting attendance to those with the financial wherewithal to attend. The more remote the venue, the better. The unvitations can be spread far and wide to people the happy couple doesn't even like because the chances of them showing up are virtually zero. They … [Read more...]
Going Dry: Why Quickly Quitting Fossil Fuels Won’t Work
Because, like Prohibition in the 1920s, it ignores the less admirable aspects of human nature. The Volstead Act, which outlawed alcohol with the aid of a Constitutional Amendment (the Eighteenth), lasted a mere 14 years. It was repealed by yet another Constitutional Amendment (the Twenty-First) and with that, the United States’ grand experiment with going dry came to an abrupt end. Its failure was really about one thing: a relatively small group of well-meaning, well-intended people — but … [Read more...]
We all love to travel, which requires fossil fuels
Eliminating the use of fossil fuels depends on kicking our addiction to just tooling around. The absolute single best day — no, the single best moment — of my entire year is sitting in the parking lot waiting for the Starbucks to open on the Friday before Labour Day. With a full tank of gas, a smooth open road ahead, decent weather and nothing but free time it simply doesn’t get any better. In a year defined by its constraints it is the instant when I feel most free. Road trip. Obviously, I’m … [Read more...]
