BOE Report

Fight over Keystone XL project doesn’t stall pipeline boom in US

WASHINGTON (AP) — In a far corner of North Dakota, just a few hundred miles from the proposed path of the Keystone XL pipeline, 84,000 barrels of crude oil per day recently began flowing through a new line that connects the state's sprawling oilfields to an oil hub in Wyoming. In West Texas, engineers activated a new pipeline that cuts diagonally across the state to deliver crude from the oil-rich Permian Basin to refineries near Houston. And in a string of towns in Kansas, Iowa and South [Read more]

US oil and natural gas rig count drops again

HOUSTON (AP) — Oilfield services company Baker Hughes Inc. says the number of rigs exploring for oil and natural gas in the U.S. fell by 67 this week to 1,125 amid depressed oil prices. Houston-based Baker Hughes said Friday that 866 rigs were seeking oil and 257 exploring for natural gas. Two were listed as miscellaneous. The count is down from 1,809 rigs active a year ago. Among major oil- and gas-producing states, Texas lost 37 rigs, Louisiana declined by seven, Oklahoma was down five, [Read more]

Alberta Energy Regulator to inspect integrity of 65 energy industry dams

EDMONTON - The Alberta Energy Regulator says it will inspect the structural integrity and review the safety records of 65 dams used by the oilsands and coal industries in the province.The announcement follows criticism by the auditor general that the provincial government is failing to properly regulate Alberta's network of dams and tailings ponds.The 65 dams are used to contain industrial waste and the regulator says 32 are classified as posing either "extreme" or "very high" environmental [Read more]

Transport Canada proposes tougher protections for rail tanker cars

OTTAWA - Proposed new federal regulations will give shippers until 2025 to upgrade rail tank cars to a higher safety standard, a transition that would come almost 30 years after serious deficiencies in the fleet were first identified —— and as oil-by-rail accidents continue to pile up.The safety upgrade would build on standards voluntarily adopted by the industry in 2011 and require shippers to make tank cars more resistant to punctures and valve failures in the case of derailment or [Read more]

Penn West to reduce first-quarter dividend further than previously announced

CALGARY - Penn West Petroleum Ltd. is cutting its quarterly dividend to a penny per share and seeking some breathing room for its debt as low oil prices continue to bite.Penn West (TSX:PWT) chief financial officer David Dyck also said the company has "proactively been in negotiations" with its lenders and debt holders to ensure financial flexibility."In spite of the progress we have made on debt reduction, we are still carrying too much debt on our balance sheet. And if oil prices continue to [Read more]

Businesses expect a slower Stampede this year as oilpatch pulls back

CALGARY - This was supposed to be the year that the "ranch" would be booked up again for the Calgary Stampede — but then oil prices fell by more than half.Caterer Paddy Sorrenti said by early December, a full roster of clients had confirmed they wanted to use the site — a cowboyed up parking lot in the downtown core where pancakes are flipped and beer is pouredBut with three and a half months to go to Stampede, Sorrenti says he's in "limbo." He figures six of the 10 events that had been booked [Read more]

Obama: Canadian oil extraction is ‘extraordinarily dirty’

WASHINGTON - U.S. President Barack Obama has some less-than-laudatory words for Canada's oil industry in a new example of his increasingly critical take on the oilsands.He was asked about the Keystone XL pipeline during a town-hall session Friday — and he launched into an explanation of why so many environmentalists oppose it."The way that you get oil out in Canada is an extraordinarily dirty way of extracting oil," Obama said during the event at a South Carolina college. "Obviously," he added, [Read more]

ExxonMobil, Murphy Oil awarded $17 million in damages from Canadian government

HALIFAX - An international tribunal has ordered the government of Canada to pay more than $17 million in damages to two oil companies following a breach of North American Free Trade Agreement regulations.A spokeswoman for Natural Resources Canada says in an email the Feb. 20 decision awarded $13.9 million plus interest to ExxonMobil and $3.4 million plus interest to Murphy Oil.Michelle Aron says Ottawa is reviewing the decision and considering its options in consultation with the government of [Read more]

Crude-by-rail exports dip in fourth quarter: National Energy Board

CALGARY - Canada's crude-by-rail exports dropped in the final three months of last year as oil prices shrivelled, according to new data from the National Energy Board. During the fourth quarter, about 173,000 barrels of oil moved south of the border on trains every day, around five per cent less than the third quarter, when the figure was about 182,000 barrels a day.But that's still 16 per cent higher than the 149,000 barrels a day that moved during the last three months of 2013.Crude prices [Read more]

Canadian Natural Resouces triples Q4 profit to $1.2 billion

CALGARY - The president of Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. (TSX:CNQ) says all options are on the table when it comes to squeezing more value out of its Alberta royalty acreage, but keeping the status quo is not at the top of the list.The Calgary-based oil and gas giant could spin off the lands into a new publicly traded company or sell them outright. It hopes to make a move this year, company executives said on a conference call Thursday. Canadian Natural makes money off the properties by [Read more]