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]
Column: The potential end of Covid, and things suddenly get a hundred times worse with no bottom in sight
As of this writing, if early (Wednesday evening) reports are correct, at least 4 Ukrainian cities are reported to be under heavy enemy fire. By the time you read this things may be far worse. Some great joker somewhere is seeing how far humans can be pushed and still retain their sanity. Covid has pounded many lives and psyches. Just when there appeared to be a light at the end of the tunnel, with restrictions lifting in various places, disillusion and years of frustration boiled over in Canada [Read more]
Column: Petroleum industry – If you felt friendless these past few years, that is about to change in a spectacular way
Writing about energy year after year, relentlessly - and particularly through the last post-2014 oil price meltdown and global schoolchildren-bearing-nasty-signs onslaught - has an effect on the psyche not unlike locking one’s self in a dark basement with nothing for entertainment but a 24/7 live stream of professional wrestling. At first, the bombastic “speeches” would be funny and whimsically idiotic. Then you learn the characters and sink into it. Finally, you get subsumed into their world [Read more]
Column: Maybe we’re better off if we can’t find our politicians – an ocean of ignorance guides western energy policy
A few years ago, I was discussing the impacts of drought on some Canadian crop regions with an acquaintance. The guy had no farming background whatsoever, which is not particularly unusual, as is the often accompanying disjointed view of how things really work. After a minute of mulling the crop devastation, he asked, “Couldn’t you just use like a watering hose?” The guy wasn’t a particularly sizeable idiot; he was just isolated and had no idea how impractical and implausible that idea was. [Read more]
Column: Elites vs. Blue collar, or maybe Canada’s Yellow Vest day: Here’s what the media won’t say about the truckers convoy
Today, in late January, when I Google search “only elite should vote” I get 106 million results. When I Google search “should only the elite vote” (ignoring question marks because I’m trying to fit in with the younger generation) I get 154 million results. The elite has time to noodle around Google (many of us are in that camp, from a global perspective – university-educated, own a house, two vehicles in the garage, and maybe a Tesla thrown in so we can hold our heads high) apparently; and the [Read more]
Column: Back in the USSR – Governments setting price signals will end exactly as you think it would
Warning, social media anecdote ahead that may or may not be true. I normally don’t put much faith in Twitter circumstantial evidence but this one came from a farmer and I know they don’t lie except about crop yields and hail the size of cantaloupes. The particular claim in question is from a US dairy farmer, who commented that he had been approached by about 25 firms looking rights his cow sh*t, in order to capture the methane. I believe him because one’s cow sh*t has never in history been [Read more]
Column: Energy industry charging ahead with emissions reduction technologies — A preferred route to tearing up the world in search of minerals
The start of a new year is often a time of reflection, quiet, and goal setting. Minus 30 temperatures and pants that no longer fit do make a person contemplative, and we look back to learn from the year past, calibrate where we are at, and put ourselves vigorously on a new path, to the extent that there is not a new year's bonanza on Netflix. The hydrocarbon sector is more aptly described as shell-shocked rather than reflective. Despite rebounding commodity prices, the ground-shift beneath [Read more]
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