On a back table in my office is a small pile of colour-coded maps that I don’t talk about much because they make me look like a madman. They are maps of Pennsylvania, documenting a semi-pathological and dogged fascination with US shale gas production. One pile shows all of Pennsylvania’s counties; the counties are colour-coded by either the number of producing gas wells or the cumulative gas produced since the start of the Appalachia shale revolution. The second, deeper level shows the [Read more]
Column: Disinformation becomes an art form, and – a government department. What could go wrong?
I’m not a fan of making predictions of any specificity, because there are usually way too many variables at play for anything of consequence. Trying to guess the price of oil at YE 2022 leaves me speechless despite the pathetically large number of hours I spend trying to understand the market. Yet, given the way 2022 has unfolded, I offer the following predictions as more than odds-on favourites to occur. Pigs will fly through the sky delivering Amazon packages. Kim Jong-un will sing a duet [Read more]
Column: A stake through the heartland – inflation and supply chain issues are greatly stressing the country’s producing class
The other week, I visited my mom in Saskatchewan, in a little town up in what is called the province’s northeast but really isn’t. It is the parkland border between farms and forests, no farther north than Edmonton. The region is sparsely populated; if you drew a circle around Momstown with, say, a 40 mile radius, that circle would include maybe ten thousand people. Out of that circle comes, every year, thousands of head of cattle, enough for, give or take, a million steaks and five times that [Read more]
Column: More polarization – Africa/Asia investing hundreds of billions in hydrocarbon infrastructure out of necessity, the west arranges deck chairs on the Titanic
I’m sure we’re all used to polarization now, particularly if you choose to pickle yourself in media brine. Buying butter can be an act of war depending on whom you choose to disclose that information to, and for reasons unfathomable to me a great many of us choose to announce such purchases via Instagram/TikTok/Twitter, in between endless bun fights about anything and everything. Hey, look at what I’m eating, and #$%^ you. Energy is of course at the forefront of polarization, with one [Read more]
Column: The federal climate plan – far out of touch with the world, with First Nations, with its regions, and the feds just don’t care
People have been asking for thoughts on the recently announced federal climate plan. I shrug. I ask them what their thoughts are on the Iowa State Fair Hog Calling Regulations. I am indifferent. I know I should care, but what’s the point? The feds throw something at us, we have to work with it. We can’t “assume a leadership role”, because they don’t want hydrocarbon players in the room. The hydrocarbon industry is working flat out on CCUS, hydrogen, RNG, you name it, but that is all beside the [Read more]
Column: Counting our energy (and other) blessings in a crumbling world
The other day, after a weekend in the Edmonton region, I found myself driving around southwest of the city on a backroad path in a deal the navigation system worked out for me on my behalf. I was involuntarily guided past the Leduc discovery well that heralded the oil boom. A few miles later, driving past beautiful acreages on the edge of a valley, I pondered the serenity of the landscape, the beautiful views, and lives i’ll never know, for better (mansion on a hill) or worse (current citizen [Read more]
Column: A new national narrative in support of oil and gas? Out of Ottawa? Sounds great but…how?
A woman sees a man walking down the street carrying a long pole. She stops him and asks, “Excuse me, are you a pole vaulter?” The man answers, “No, I’m Ukrainian, but how did you know my name vas Valter?” (old joke told by one of my comic (Ukrainian) heroes, latest in my running salute to the wonderful sense of humour of the Ukrainian people) Something equally mystifying showed up in my inbox this past week, a nugget the likes of which I’ve never seen before. It was an earnest little thing, [Read more]
Column: The world faces both a hydrocarbon shortage and a divest fossil fuels movement. What next, oil patch?
Good morning, echo chamber! That’s the stereotype, anyway - since this is an oil/gas industry site, the readers must therefore be in da club. It’s not necessarily true; I can happily report that readers come from all over, and that more than a few are not hydrocarbon people at all. No horns or anything. While I’m very glad to have such people aboard, today is a question only the hydrocarbon crowd can answer: What’s your game plan from here forward? That’s obviously kind of a stupid question [Read more]
Column: Turn on the taps? What taps? What’s the matter with you people?
Today’s soap box rant is different. Taking the high road today, no names. I’m going to talk about a senior political figure and not talk about hemorrhoids or Rasputin or political virtuosity. I’m going to talk about a geopolitical oil/energy/climate expert professor/CNN commentator from a prestigious US university, and I won’t argue about how many angels can dance on a pin’s head not will I speculate on what a theoretical building would turn out like if engineers, plumbers, and tradesmen were [Read more]
A salute to Ukraine whose courage is reshaping global energy markets
“I got a map on my lap But I don’t know what I’m gonna do The guy that drew it he musta been drunk too Everything will be just fine Once I find that correction line Six weeks on da road and I’m gonna find my way tonight” - Prairie/Ukrainian entertainer/recording artist Metro Rosmenko - “Six Weaks on Da Road” My best friend in high school used to say: “There are two types of people in the world: those that are Ukrainian, and those that wish they were Ukrainian.” Beyond that tongue-in-cheek [Read more]
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