CALGARY - A new report suggests western Canadian oil and gas drillers are their own worst enemies because they have greatly increased drilling efficiency while revenues have fallen. Analysts at GMP FirstEnergy say rigs are drilling more than a third deeper in an average day in 2017 than they were in 2014 but their average earnings per day has actually fallen by a quarter, from more than $26,000 in 2014 to less than $20,000 now. The research represents more bad news for the [Read more]

CALGARY - Alberta's minister of trade says Canada's oil and gas industry has little to worry about as wide-ranging North American trade negotiations get underway. Speaking Thursday after a conference of state governments in Tacoma, Wash., Minister Deron Bilous said U.S. lawmakers recognize the importance of an integrated energy market. He said Alberta government representatives have been meeting with U.S. counterparts regularly to emphasize the importance of market access and [Read more]

CALGARY - As NAFTA 2.0 negotiations begin, an old trade issue with a strange name has emerged to create unlikely allies across the political spectrum and staunch defenders in the oilpatch. The "proportionality clause" originally appeared in the Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreement of 1988 and became a major issue in that year's federal election that returned Prime Minister Brian Mulroney to office. It was replicated six years later in the North American Free Trade Agreement (although Mexico [Read more]

QUEBEC - The Quebec government will pay $20.5 million to Petrolia as part of its plan to end oil development on Anticosti Island. The province's Energy and Natural Resources Department said in a statement Thursday the compensation deal is based on public interest. In late July, the government announced it was halting oil and gas exploration on the island and was negotiating with several companies to get them to abandon their research rights. The decision was made to [Read more]