BOE Report

A pause, but not panic, in Fort McMurray as oil prices languish below US$50

FORT MCMURRAY, Alta. - The city at the heart of Canada's oilsands is no ghost town, but things have slowed down a bit in Fort McMurray, Alta.And that's not necessarily a bad thing, according to the president of the local chamber of commerce."Do you know what? To me — for us — this is nice," Nick Sanders said in an interview at a downtown cafe that had a smattering of customers in the middle of a weekday morning."We have a chance to sit back and say 'Ok, let's figure out what we need to get ready [Read more]

Kinder Morgan stops pursuing B.C. court action against anti-pipeline protesters

BURNABY, B.C. - Kinder Morgan says it will not continue court action against protesters who demonstrated against the proposed expansion of a pipeline while survey crews drilled on Burnaby Mountain.The company has filed a discontinuance of its B.C. Supreme Court civil lawsuit against five people who protested at the site last November and December.It says it approached all the defendants last month and offered to stop its proceedings and that two of the defendants agreed but discontinuing the [Read more]

N.W.T. opens land for first oil exploration auction since devolution

OTTAWA - The Northwest Territories is holding its first auction for energy exploration licences since that responsibility was delegated to Yellowknife from Ottawa.The territory is putting rights to more than 160,000 hectares in the central Mackenzie Valley on the block.The devolution agreement with the federal government took effect last April."It's a positive step forward for us, and a bit of a maturation for us as we move into our new responsibilities as a government," Dave Ramsay, industry, [Read more]

N.W.T. premier launches study to lay groundwork for oil pipeline to Arctic Ocean

OTTAWA - The premier of the Northwest Territories says it's time to start laying the groundwork for a potential oil pipeline to the Arctic Ocean, notwithstanding currently depressed global energy prices.Bob McLeod announced to an Ottawa reception Thursday evening that he's launching a year-long feasibility study that will examine an energy, communications and transportation corridor up the Mackenzie Valley."We know we need to find a way to get our resources to market and it is time for us to [Read more]

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]