BOE Report

Financial shocker of the year: Oil at $60

NEW YORK (AP) — For the first half of 2014 the oil market looked just as it had the year before — and the 2 years before that. Oil was over $100 and drivers in the U.S. were paying around $3.50 for gasoline. Economies around the world seemed to have adjusted to higher priced oil and oil companies were using high profits and debt from willing lenders to scour the world for new reserves. There was no real hope or expectation that U.S. drivers would see a price at the pump that started with a [Read more]

Natural gas price diving when it usually rises, on mild weather, high supplies

NEW YORK - Natural gas, the nation's most prevalent heating fuel, is getting cheaper just as winter is arriving because of mild temperatures and plentiful supplies.The price of natural gas has dropped 29 per cent in a month, to $3.17 per 1,000 cubic feet on Tuesday from nearly $4.50 in late November. That's a steep drop even for a fuel notorious for volatile price swings.The lower prices are expected to linger and could reduce electricity prices and heating bills in the coming months. Natural [Read more]

Harper and Prentice talk about energy sector during “challenging times”

CALGARY - Stephen Harper held a private meeting Sunday with Alberta Premier Jim Prentice in Calgary.Only a few broad details about the session were disclosed in a short news release from the Prime Minister's Office.It stated the two leaders focused on "the provincial, federal and global economies and on working together to keep Canada's energy sector strong through challenging times."The release said they also agreed that "all levels of government must continue to take steps to reduce greenhouse [Read more]

Saudi petroleum minister says there is no conspiracy behind drop in oil prices

ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates - Saudi Arabia's oil chief says that allegations the kingdom conspired to bring oil prices down to harm its neighbours are false.Petroleum Minister Ali Naimi said at an oil summit in the United Arab Emirates on Sunday that "the best thing for everybody is to let the most efficient produce."His remarks were likely meant to alleviate concerns by some of the oil giant's neighbours that the kingdom is forcing lower oil prices to damage their economies.An OPEC meeting [Read more]

Alberta extends climate change rules, including $15 tonne carbon levy, to June

EDMONTON - Alberta has extended its climate-change regulations, including the carbon levy on large emitters, for another six months.The regulations had been set to expire at the end of the year but will now be kept in force through June 2015.Premier Jim Prentice had promised the changes by the end of the year, but said Friday that more time is needed to analyze options on a revised climate-change framework.Alberta currently has a $15 per tonne levy on carbon for large emitters.The province is [Read more]

Obama on whether he’d consider Republican Keystone bill: ‘I’ll see what they do’

WASHINGTON - U.S. President Barack Obama spent five minutes disparaging the potential benefits of the Keystone XL pipeline Friday. He then kept it alive with five words.At a wide-ranging year-end news conference Friday, Obama maintained his recent pattern of expressed skepticism about the project: He played down its job potential, said it wouldn't lower gas prices for Americans and, employing the language of pipeline opponents, said it would merely help Canadian "tar sands" companies export [Read more]

Steep oil plunge slams Russia, Venezuela but US, China other big economies stand to benefit

NEW YORK - Oil's plunge is spreading both pain and gain across the globe.The price of a barrel has fallen by about half since June, punishing the economies of some major exporters. Russia's currency has nose-dived, for instance, and investors worry Venezuela could default on its debt.For countries that consume a large amount of the world's oil, it's a different story. The world's four biggest economies — U.S., China, Japan and that of the European Union — all benefit from lower oil [Read more]

New Brunswick government introducing moratorium on hydraulic fracturing

FREDERICTON - Five conditions must be met before New Brunswick will lift a moratorium on hydraulic fracturing, Premier Brian Gallant said Thursday in a move that has frustrated the energy sector but pleased environmentalists.The provincial government introduced legislation that would prohibit fracking throughout the province until concerns about health, the environment and First Nations input are addressed.Gallant placed conditions on the legislation including a process to consult with First [Read more]

TransCanada CEO says industry has lived through worse than latest crude downturn

CALGARY - The CEO of TransCanada Corp. (TSX:TRP) says he doesn't see the oil industry's appetite for new pipelines faltering even though crude prices have skidded to the lowest point in more than five-years.In an interview in his downtown Calgary office, Russ Girling said he's seen ups and downs far more drastic over his career and expects the oilpatch will come out of the latest downturn in reasonably good shape."There's a tremendous need to build irrespective of the price of the commodity [Read more]

New York plans to prohibit fracking, citing health issues, dubious economic benefits

ALBANY, N.Y. - Handing environmentalists a breakthrough victory, New York plans to prohibit fracking for natural gas because of what regulators say are its unexplored health risks and dubious economic benefits.New York, which overlies part of the gas-rich Marcellus Shale formation that has led to a drilling boom in Pennsylvania and other nearby states, has banned shale gas development since 2008, when the state began an environmental review of the drilling technique also known as hydraulic [Read more]