CALGARY - TransAlta Corp. says it will acquire a 50 per cent interest in an early-stage pumped hydro energy storage development project in southwest Alberta. The Calgary company says Montem Resources Limited currently owns the Tent Mountain Renewable Energy Complex the two companies will jointly manage with TransAlta acting as project developer. Under the deal, TransAlta will pay Montem about $8 million, when the deal closes, with additional payments of up to $17 million contingent on the [Read more]
Alberta appoints oilpatch veterans to advise government on province’s energy future
EDMONTON - Premier Danielle Smith will turn to a panel of five oilpatch veterans to advise her government on the future of Alberta's energy industry. The panel will be chaired by David Yager, a longtime writer on the oilpatch. Yager was also a former political candidate for the Wildrose Party, one of the groups that came together to form the United Conservative Party that Smith now leads. The other members of the panel include Hal Kvisle, who sits on the board of Cenovus Energy and has [Read more]
Poilievre backs Alberta’s concerns over federal ‘just transition’ legislation
CALGARY - Federal Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre says he backs Alberta Premier Danielle Smith over her concerns about what she's called Ottawa's anti-oil and gas agenda. Poilievre told reporters in Calgary today that he discussed health care, public safety and defending Canada's oil sector when he met his Alberta counterpart in Ottawa recently. Smith has voiced her opposition over pending federal legislation, dubbed "just transition." It's aimed at helping Canadian works adapt to [Read more]
Decision on new Suncor CEO expected ‘very soon’
CALGARY - Suncor Energy Inc. did not announce the name of its new CEO on its fourth-quarter earnings call Wednesday, though interim chief executive Kris Smith said a decision is expected "very soon." The Calgary-based oil producer and refiner has been on the hunt for a new CEO ever since former chief executive Mark Little resigned last July, under pressure from an aggressive activist investor and in the wake of a spate of workplace deaths and safety incidents. Smith, who was formerly [Read more]
Imperial Oil files cleanup plan for tailings leak in Alberta, won’t disclose details
A spokeswoman for the Imperial Oil Ltd. says the company has sent a plan to the Alberta Energy Regulator as required for cleanup of a tailings leak in Alberta. No new information about the spill and seepage event has been released by the company or the regulator. The regulator says it's in the middle of an investigation of how more than 5,000 cubic metres of tailings overflowed from one of its tailings dams at its Kearl site north of Fort McMurray. That alone would make it one of [Read more]
Smith rejects NDP claim oilwell cleanup help is linked with her leadership campaign
EDMONTON - Danielle Smith is rejecting Opposition claims her planned $100-million pilot project for cleaning up old oil wells was influenced by her United Conservative party leadership campaign, arguing that federal money to get the job done missed many of the province's worst sites. Speaking on her province-wide radio call-in show Saturday, Danielle Smith noted the worst wells have been inactive for decades and repeated her argument that government shares some of the blame for the fact [Read more]
New Enbridge CEO says Canada is missing opportunities as world cries out for energy
CALGARY - The new CEO of pipeline giant Enbridge Inc. says regulatory uncertainty in this country has resulted in a "lost decade" for Canadian liquefied natural gas production. Greg Ebel, who took the reins from outgoing Enbridge CEO Al Monaco last month, says the company's pipelines currently supply natural gas to five operating LNG export facilities on the U.S. Gulf Coast. He says that's a missed opportunity for Canada, particularly for the West coast, which does not yet have an LNG [Read more]
Russia says it will cut oil production over Western caps
MOSCOW (AP) — Russia announced Friday that will cut oil production by 500,000 barrels per day next month after Western countries capped the price of its crude over its action in Ukraine. “As of today, we fully sell all our crude output, but as we stated before, we will not sell oil to those who directly or indirectly adhere to the ‘price ceiling,’” Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said in remarks carried by Russian news agencies. “In connection with that, Russia will voluntarily cut [Read more]
Carbon capture too expensive, takes too long to build
CALGARY - By betting it can solve its emissions problem with carbon capture and storage, Canada's oil and gas industry risks saddling itself with expensive stranded assets, a new report argues. The report, released Thursday by the International Institute for Sustainable Development — a Winnipeg-based think-tank that focuses on climate and sustainable resource development — concludes carbon capture and storage technology costs too much and takes too long to build to have any hope of helping [Read more]
Regulator gives Imperial weeks to plan fix for months-old oilsands tailings leak
Alberta's energy regulator has given Imperial Oil until the end of the month to figure out a way to fix ongoing seepage at a tailings pond at its Kearl oilsands mine. The Alberta Energy Regulator says a pond on the site north of Fort McMurray, Alta., has been seeping since May, releasing thousands of cubic metres of wastewater that contains toxins such as arsenic. The seepage has been recorded both on- and off-site and is considered to have got into tributaries of area rivers. The [Read more]