BOE Report

Shale gas violence highlights deeper issues

An obscure conflict between the Mi'kmaq of eastern New Brunswick and a company searching for shale gas had dragged on for more than two years before it exploded as a national issue two months ago amid images of flaming Molotov cocktails and torched police cars.Until then, few Canadians had heard of the Elsipogtog First Nation or SWN Resources.Like so many other disputes between aboriginals and companies hoping to exploit the land where they live, this quarrel failed to attract much attention [Read more]

Yea or nay for Northern Gateway? Federal review panel report coming

VANCOUVER - Following months of hearings, years of debate and dozens of protests, the federal panel reviewing the controversial Northern Gateway pipeline will release its report later today. Much hangs in the balance. The $6-billion pipeline that would connect the Alberta oil sands to tankers on British Columbia's coast bound for the emerging markets of Asia has become the beachhead in the battle between economics and the environment. If approved, the pipeline will likely be just the [Read more]

Mulcair says Northern Gateway a non-starter

OTTAWA - Tom Mulcair predicts the Northern Gateway pipeline will never be built, even if it passes environmental muster. Indeed, the NDP leader says the controversial project should have been vetoed outright, without wasting public money on an environmental assessment. The National Energy Board is poised to release Thursday the results of its environmental review of Enbridge's proposed $5.5-billion pipeline to carry Alberta oilsands bitumen to the northwest Pacific Coast for export to [Read more]

Pipeline giants team up on research

EDMONTON - Canada's two biggest pipeline operators are teaming up to test leak detection technology.TransCanada Corp. (TSX:TRP) and Enbridge Inc. (TSX:ENB) will be using a pipeline simulator at an Edmonton facility to conduct their research in 2014.Enbridge developed the simulator, called the External Leak Detection Experimental Research, or ELDER for short.The two companies, along with the Alberta Ministry of Innovation and Advanced Education, have committed a total of $4 million in [Read more]

Report coming on Northern Gateway pipeline

TORONTO - A panel reviewing a proposed pipeline to the Pacific Coast that would allow Canada's oil to be shipped to Asia will on Thursday deliver its recommendation on whether Canadian government should approve the project. Canada's National Energy Board said Tuesday the environmental report by the three-person review panel will be released Thursday in Calgary, Alberta. The final decision on whether Enbridge's controversial pipeline can go ahead, however, rests with Canada's Conservative [Read more]

Oil shipments on southern Keystone XL leg to begin Jan. 22

CALGARY - TransCanada Corp. (TSX:TRP) says it expects to begin shipping oil on the southern leg of its Keystone XL pipeline on Jan. 22. The pipeline company gave its customers the news late Monday. TransCanada began filling the US$2.3-billion Oklahoma-to-Texas line just over a week ago. In the coming weeks, some three million barrels of crude are expected to make their way to Houston-area refineries. TransCanada is still awaiting approval from the Obama administration to construct [Read more]

Blockade removed after injunction: PennWest

LITTLE BUFFALO, Alta. - The blockade of a Calgary energy company's access road is down after a court injunction ordered a northern Alberta aboriginal band to remove it.PennWest Exploration (TSX:PWT) spokesman Greg Moffatt says the Lubicon First Nation's obstruction of an access road into a prospective drilling site has been removed.Lubicon First Nations leadership says it is meeting to decide what to do next.The protesters had been blocking the road since late November in an effort to stop the [Read more]

Judge grants injunction against Lubicon

CALGARY - A Calgary judge has granted an injunction against an anti-fracking blockade of an energy company's drilling site in northern Alberta.A news release from the Lubicon Lake Nation says the judge sided with PennWest Exploration (TSX:PWT).The release says PennWest wanted a week-long injunction but the judge went beyond that request and granted a six-month injunction.Lubicon Lake Nation spokeswoman Cynthia Tomlinson says it is not the end of the fight "on the land or in the courts."The [Read more]

MARKETING MACHINE! Redford heads to India to promote Alberta service companies at world’s biggest oil and gas show

EDMONTON - Alberta Premier Alison Redford is heading to India in the new year.The premier says she will lead a trade mission from Jan. 8 to 19, to go to Petrotech, the largest oil and gas trade show in the Asian nation.Redford says she is going with representatives from Alberta service companies.She will also use the tour to open Alberta's new trade office in New Delhi.The tour will also include stops in Bangalore and possibly Mumbai.Redford says they will also explore opportunities in new [Read more]

Crude-by-rail in the spotlight in 2013

CALGARY - Crude oil moved along Canadian railway lines in unprecedented volumes in 2013 as delays in building new pipelines caused oil companies, clamouring to reach the most lucrative markets, to seek out alternative paths. The crude-by-rail trend had been gathering steam quietly in recent years. But after the disaster in Lac Megantic, Que., it could no longer fly under the radar.On July 6, an unattended train laden with 7.6 million litres of volatile crude barrelled into the town, setting off [Read more]