CALGARY - Two Calgary men face multiple charges after thefts of copper wire and tools at several rural oilwell sites. Police say about $300,000 in damage was caused by thieves who cut the wire out of buildings. The Calgary Police Service says it worked with RCMP to track, locate and arrest two suspects. Pieces of unstripped copper wire and heavy equipment tools, including bolt cutters and power tools, were found in a vehicle. Brian Tanner, who is 43, and Jonathan [Read more]

LAC LA BICHE, Alta. - Indigenous supporters of Canada's oil and gas industry turned out here in force Sunday to make the point that the sector plays a vital role in their lives. "It doesn't matter if you're a business owner or a worker or an aboriginal community. We're all in this together," Lee Thom, a councillor from Kikino Metis Settlement, told a crowd gathered in a recreation centre in Lac La Biche, Alta. Rene Houle from Whitefish Lake First Nation said the energy industry [Read more]

VANCOUVER - Coastal GasLink must submit a notice of construction at least 48 hours before it starts work under its permit to build a pipeline that is opposed by some members of the Wet'suwet'en First Nation, the B.C. Oil and Gas Commission said. The commission has warned the Calgary-based company after it received complaints from the Office of the Wet'suwet'en that alleged that Coastal GasLink engaged in construction without an archaeological impact assessment and also destroyed [Read more]

EDMONTON - Alberta will work with Indigenous groups in the province's remote northeast corner on what the government says will be Canada's largest off-the-grid solar power project. The plan is for 7,500 solar panels to be erected at the power plant near the airport at Fort Chipewyan. It's expected the solar farm will be operating by next year and replace the equivalent of 800,000 litres of diesel fuel — about 25 per cent of the community's energy use. Alberta is contributing $3.3 [Read more]

CALGARY - A credit rating agency says high court support for the Alberta Energy Regulator's ability to force a bankruptcy trustee to pay out well-abandonment obligations before paying back creditors is credit negative for energy companies. Moody's Investor Services says the Supreme Court of Canada ruling Thursday creates a "super priority position" for payment of such liabilities over repaying other creditors. It says the decision potentially reduces how much a lender could [Read more]