BOE Report

Energy company granted permits to drill for natural gas in Nova Scotia

HALIFAX - An energy company has been granted permits to drill two tests wells for natural gas in Nova Scotia.Provincial Energy Minister Andrew Younger says East Coast Energy has met all regulatory requirements to carry out its work at the Foord coal seam in Pictou County at a depth of 540 metres.The company has submitted an emergency response plan and must provide daily reports to the province's Energy Department once drilling begins.The drilling is expected to take place over 30 to 40 days. [Read more]

New Brunswick Premier won’t meet with shale gas protesters, says there’s no point

FREDERICTON - New Brunswick Premier David Alward says he has no plans to visit a traditional First Nation longhouse that has been erected across the street from the provincial legislature to protest shale gas exploration. Alward said he doesn't see what would be achieved by meeting with Chief Candice Paul of the St. Mary's First Nation. "Chief Paul has made it quite clear where her position is on resource development and at this point in time I don't see what would be gained," Alward said [Read more]

TransForce exiting the Canadian oil rig moving business to focus on U.S.

MONTREAL - Trucking and courier company TransForce is getting out of the rig-moving business in Canada early next year as it tries to stem losses by focusing on its growing U.S. operations. "It's a tough market; the pricing pressure is very, very hard there on the rig-moving side," CEO Alain Bedard said Wednesday in a conference call to discuss its third-quarter results. The move will reduce annual revenues by up to $25 million but also cut losses. It sold $5 million in equipment in the [Read more]

Athabasca confident on Dover oilsands sale, Duvernay joint venture

CALGARY - Athabasca Oil Corp. says it's optimistic it will be able to sell its stake in the Dover oilsands project to its Chinese partner, despite recent setbacks, as well as land joint-venture deals for some of its other holdings. But, should those efforts fail, the Calgary-based company said Wednesday it is prepared to sharply reduce spending and pursue other measures to stay afloat. On October 18, Alberta's highest court gave an aboriginal group the right to appeal a regulatory decision [Read more]

Trudeau speaks to oil executives in Calgary, slams Harper

CALGARY - Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau used a speech to oil executives Wednesday to blame the federal government's "megaphone diplomacy" for delays in a U.S. decision on the Keystone XL oilsands pipeline.Trudeau told the Calgary Petroleum Club that Stephen Harper's government has failed to come up with a "sensible" national strategy on greenhouse gases and that is damaging Canada's reputation."After eight years here is what the so-called friendliest government the Canadian energy industry has [Read more]

Alberta’s environmental monitoring panel to be running by early 2014

EDMONTON - The Alberta government says its long-promised environmental monitoring agency will be up and running by early in the new year. That's despite the fact it has no leaders, scientific advisers or permanent funding. Aboriginal groups say they've been left out of the process, and legislation to create the agency hasn't passed yet. Alberta Environment official Ernie Hui says there's a lot of work to do. But he says people from industry, academia and the environmental community [Read more]

Premiers Wall, Alward urge Canada to move forward on pipeline development

OTTAWA - Two of the country's premiers are in Ottawa to deliver the message that all of Canada will reap the rewards of moving Canadian energy to coastal ports in order to sell it to international markets. New Brunswick Premier David Alward says "every province, every region, every community, every Canadian" will benefit from pipelines that would carry oil from western provinces to ocean ports. Alward and his Saskatchewan colleague, Brad Wall, are urging provinces like Quebec and Ontario [Read more]

Redford heads to Washington to talk Keystone

EDMONTON - Alberta Premier Alison Redford will make her fifth trip to Washington next month to speak about the need for the Keystone XL pipeline.She will meet with officials in the U.S. State Department as they finalize an environmental assessment of the proposed transcontinental pipeline.Redford says she will also meet again with Heidi Heitkamp, the Democratic senator from North Dakota who is a strong pipeline advocate.The premier leaves on Nov. 11 for the two-day trip, during a week when the [Read more]

No Ontario environmental assessment of Line 9

TORONTO - Ontario won't conduct its own environmental assessment of a plan to reverse the flow of the Line 9 oil pipeline that runs through the province, Energy Minister Bob Chiarelli said Monday.Calgary-based Enbridge Inc. wants to reverse Line 9 and increase its capacity to move 300,000 barrels of crude oil per day, up from the current 240,000 barrels.It has also asked for permission to move different types of oil between southwestern Ontario and Montreal, including a heavier form of crude.The [Read more]

B.C. announces funds for First Nations to get involved in clean energy

VANCOUVER -- A dozen British Columbia First Nations will share $1.3 million in provincial funding to develop clean energy, Aboriginal Affairs Minister John Rustad announced Monday during a speech to the Clean Energy Association of B.C. But some First Nations fear, despite the funding, that government interest in the green option is cooling in the shadow of the province's multibillion-dollar liquefied natural gas dreams. Judith Sayers, a former chief of the Hupacasath First Nation on [Read more]