BOE Report

US Senate poised to approve Keystone pipeline bill, defying White House

WASHINGTON - Long-suffering supporters of the Keystone XL pipeline won a moral victory in the U.S. Congress on Thursday — but that's about all they won.A bill to build the oil pipeline from Canada was approved by the Senate for the first time in the almost seven-year struggle over one of the best-known, most-debated pieces of oil infrastructure in memory.Previous efforts to approve the pipeline crashed into the notoriously high hurdle for getting anything through the U.S. Congress's upper [Read more]

Forget the falling price, US oil industry renews push to lift ban on exporting US oil

WASHINGTON - Never mind dropping oil prices. U.S. producers are pushing harder than ever for the right to sell U.S. crude oil overseas.It might seem counterintuitive: Oil prices are as low as they have been at any point since 2009 and the height of the Great Recession, and some say they could drop even further. But oil producers are playing a longer game, betting that long-term demand will be strong and new markets offer lucrative rewards for U.S. producers.Supporters see possible inroads in a [Read more]

Shell to cut investment worldwide after oil price drop hurts profit

LONDON (AP) — In a sign of the impact on the oil sector of the slump in energy prices, Royal Dutch Shell Plc said Thursday it plans to cut spending by $15 billion over the next three years amid a drop in earnings. Shell is the first major energy company to report earnings, so its quarterly update is watched for hints on the performance of the wider industry. Europe's largest oil company by market value said fourth quarter net income fell 57 percent to $773 million due to the steep decline [Read more]

Imperial Oil evaluating future of its 500 company-owned gas stations

CALGARY - Imperial Oil Ltd. (TSX:IMO) is thinking about selling 500 gas stations to partners who would continue to sell fuel under the Esso brand.Roughly two-thirds of Imperial's 1,700 Esso stations across Canada have been operating under what it calls a "branded wholesaler" model for about 15 years. The Calgary-based company said Wednesday it's looking into whether it makes sense to do the same with the remainder.Imperial, majority owned by U.S. energy giant ExxonMobil Corp., would supply fuel [Read more]

NAFTA environment watchdog won’t probe oilsands tailings ponds

The three countries that run the North American Free Trade Agreement's environmental watchdog have voted against an investigation into how Canada oversees Alberta's oilsands.The unanimous decision by Canada, Mexico and the United States comes despite recommendations from staff at the Commission on Environmental Co-operation. They had concluded there were enough questions about how environmental rules are enforced on oilsands tailings ponds to justify an investigation.The commission was created [Read more]

Obama signals opening up Atlantic Ocean to drilling for first time, removes areas off Alaska

WASHINGTON - The Obama administration floated a plan Tuesday that for the first time would open up a broad swath of the Atlantic Ocean to drilling, even as it moved to restrict drilling indefinitely in environmentally-sensitive areas of the state of Alaska.The proposal envisions auctioning areas located more than 50 miles (80 kilometres) off the coasts of Virginia, North and South Carolina, and Georgia to oil companies no earlier than 2021, long after President Barack Obama leaves office. For [Read more]

Key issues on Keystone pipeline as Senate vote nears on the Canadian project

WASHINGTON - The United States Senate is closing in on a vote to authorize the Keystone XL oil pipeline this week.But the fate of the $8 billion Canadian project depends not only on what happens in Congress, but also in the courts, at the White House and with Calgary-based TransCanada Corp., the pipeline's developer. TransCanada has been waiting more than six years for approval of the pipeline.The odds of building seem to change almost daily.A lawsuit is tossed out, then some others filed. The [Read more]

Rally against Energy East Pipeline to be held in downtown Halifax

HALIFAX - A group opposed to the development of the Energy East Pipeline is calling on the National Energy Board to open up meetings about pipeline safety, an idea the federal regulator says it is considering.About a dozen people staged a rally Monday in Halifax as the board met with groups during closed-door meetings to discuss the project.Members of Stop Energy East Halifax held signs and a makeshift pipeline with the words "tar sands=climate bomb" in front of the Halifax Central Library.Over [Read more]

LNG pipeline deals with B.C. nets First Nation millions of dollars

VICTORIA - Millions of dollars are expected to flow to a First Nation in British Columbia's northwest as a result of two new deals tied to proposed liquefied-natural-gas pipelines.The Ministry of Aboriginal Relations and Reconciliation says it has signed benefits deals with the Moricetown Band.One deal is tied to TransCanada's proposed Coastal GasLink pipeline and will give the First Nation located between Smithers and New Hazelton $6 million as project milestones are reached.Moricetown is also [Read more]

Oil prices take small jump on death of Saudi king, but no change in policy expected

NEW YORK - Oil prices rose initially on news of the death of Saudi Arabia's powerful King Abdullah, but the increase was moderate and short-lived.The king's death is unlikely to lead to a change in the kingdom's immense crude production or change the course of oil prices in the coming months, analysts say.The benchmark U.S. crude futures contract rose more than $2 a barrel in the hours after the king's death was announced Thursday evening in New York. But by the time commodity markets opened [Read more]