Sheesh, what’s with all the drama? The news is full of bad-news stories about doom and gloom; can’t everyone see we just need to roll up our sleeves and get to work? Most of this stuff isn’t even all that hard! We can solve the world’s obesity/health problem in a matter of months. Start by closing all fast food chains immediately. Ban all kinds of fattening food like chocolate, or anything deep fried. Ration sugar. Coke and slurpees and ice cream and pie - all illegal. We can solve the [Read more]
BRICS and Nukes and LNG – the energy transition few are expecting
Sometimes I hear people going on about how rapidly the world is changing. “The pace is unbelievable, who can keep up…” Most times I roll my eyes a fair bit, a good 80 degrees I’d say. Obviously things are changing, but a new app that helps order pizza or a tool that writes an essay for us instead of doing the hard work ourselves is not that revolutionary given the context of the last century (in case you ever wonder, there will always be enough f-bombs and crappy analogies around here so that [Read more]
“Islands of expertise surrounded by oceans of incoherence” – today’s energy policies in a nutshell
Recently, thanks to a YouTube-fiend friend, I was introduced to a new genius. Ordinarily, I’d reserve that qualification for someone that agrees with me lock, stock and barrel. But my capacity for self-delusion doesn’t stretch quite that far, and sometimes one runs across people that just see the world better, if differently; they just have better vision, and are better able to condense the madness swirling around us (not just energy, everything). It is fun to have beliefs challenged by such [Read more]
‘The beatings will continue until morale improves’ should not be a template for energy policy
There’s positive energy out there, and there’s negative energy, and life is better wrapped in one rather than the other. I get it. I’ve absorbed the cliches and motivational posters; stay away from toxicity and life goes much easier. The energy world has for a very long time been on the right side of the ledger; there is an incredible amount of positive energy development. On the existing oil/gas side, this has mostly always been so - it’s a fantastic, dynamic, entrepreneurial business, and [Read more]
It’s all out there – the North American hydrocarbon industry has an amazing amount of freely accessible data
It’s amazing what people don’t know about energy, considering its omnipresent facets. I once met a guy from Quebec.…whoa, have to limerick that. I once met a guy from Quebec Who got here and said what the heck The grass is not brown From oil spills all ‘round They’ve been shoving bull____ down our neck OK I’ll stick to my day job. But it’s true; when this guy, an intelligent and educated businessman, moved out here on a work transfer, he was astonished that everything was so green and [Read more]
Column: This is the century of natural gas
The headline above is not designed to make young heads explode, It’s really not. But it might. Before getting to why that might be, consider why the headline is a credible statement. The evidence is, in total, overwhelming. Here’s a 2023 headline from an anti-hydrocarbons website: “China, India lead US$534 billion global gas pipeline build out.” The article notes that globally, over 59,000 kilometres of transmission pipeline are under construction and an additional 151,000 kms are proposed [Read more]
Column: Net zero 2050? That’s nothing – hold my beer
Serious goal-setting seems like a very good way to torment oneself, creating a new reason out of thin air. My New Year’s resolution is to avoid setting goals. Type A is not my type. But maybe it’s time to turn over a new leaf. I’ve decided I don’t want to be a bedridden old coot. So it’s showtime. By the year 2050, I’m going to be the first 80-something to run a sub-four-minute mile. I’m going to bench press 1,200 pounds and win the Tour de France five times in a row, all as an [Read more]
Column: The climate/energy/environment debate is completely unhinged – here’s why
Old-school politics used to be easy, industrially speaking. The left/right divide seemed so endearingly simple. People existed in two world views, generally cleaved along the lines of more/less government control, or more collective vision vs. more individual. An analogy that works: Imagine someone starts a business, it grows wildly, they hire a thousand people, and the owner gets fantastically wealthy. Old school voters would fall into one of two camps: Camp free enterprise would say that not [Read more]
Column: Tourmaline and partners’ CNG venture is what an energy transition should look like
Once upon a time long ago, Ballard Power Systems came into existence. In 1983, the company’s founders began working on fuel cells that generate electrical energy from a combination of hydrogen and air. In 1990, the company began development of a 5 kW fuel cell stack, proving that the concept actually works at a useful level. In 1991, Ballard entered a joint program between Ballard, General Motors and the US Department of Energy to collaborate on development of a fuel cell powered automobile - [Read more]
Column: An idea for abandonment liability management – heading off the next crisis before it appears
It’s springtime - greening grass, new leaves, robins, the Masters… and the Orphan Well Fund annual levy. The latter won’t strike fear in most of you, but those who are awaiting it don’t feel very good. This year’s levy against producers is a very substantial $135 million up from $72 million the year prior. The orphan well levy is an attempt to clean up the historical mess caused by (in no particular order) severe commodity price collapses, capital flight due to industry antagonism, [Read more]
- « Previous Page
- 1
- …
- 10
- 11
- 12
- 13
- 14
- …
- 44
- Next Page »