Ever seen a movie where a scrawny quiet kid, after years of being bullied, finally comes of age and punches some punk in the head, and the theatre is filled with a sense of euphoric release? In those terms, Canada is currently the scrawny quiet kid, but there’s been no sign it’s ready to stand its ground. It's time to change that. To say that we need our very own Trump would be a bit much, but we do need a few pages from his play book. Part of Trump’s appeal is that he took back the [Read more]
Headlines
Alberta carbon tax jumps, but NDP says it’s connected to improving economy
EDMONTON - Alberta's carbon tax jumped on New Year's Day, but the province's NDP government maintains the tax played a vital role in Alberta's improving economic outlook. Deputy premier Sarah Hoffman told reporters there was a clear link between the approval of several pipelines last year and the tax that Alberta first introduced on carbon on January 1, 2017. Hoffman noted the federal government was clear that its approval for the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion from Alberta to [Read more]
Crude awakenings: stabilizing oil unlikely to improve the TSX’s performance in 2018
TORONTO - While stabilizing oil prices helped Canadian equities break out of their doldrums in the second half of 2017, investors expecting the Toronto Stock Exchange to catch up with its outperforming global peers in the new year should instead anticipate more modest returns with the add-on of greater market volatility. "Despite being flat in the early part of the year and then posting some gains here in the back half of the year, the swings in equity prices on the S&P/TSX composite [Read more]
Numbing cold wave grips U.S., heralding a frigid New Year’s Eve
The torrent of arctic air that poured into many parts of the United States this week tightened its grip on Friday and brought record cold to some spots, as forecasters warned revelers from Memphis to Maine to expect numbing conditions on New Year's Eve. As far south as Charleston, South Carolina, freezing rain coated the city's landmark church steeples, while a shroud of ice blanketed rock faces next to Niagara Falls as mist from the thundering falls on New York's border with [Read more]
Canada crude-by-rail exports to U.S. rise to 6-month high
Canadian crude-by-rail exports to the United States climbed to a six-month high of 137,000 barrels per day in October, data from the National Energy Board showed on Friday, the latest sign that tight pipeline capacity is pushing more oil onto railroads. October was the third straight month in which rail exports climbed. Volumes rose 2 percent from September, but were up 33 percent from the same month in 2016 when Canada shipped 103,000 barrels per day of crude by rail. The amount of crude [Read more]
U.S. oil rig count ends 2017 40 pct above year-ago levels -Baker Hughes
The U.S. oil rig count rose by about 42 percent by end-2017 compared to the levels seen during the corresponding period last year, as energy companies boosted spending amid a recovery in crude prices. Drillers held the number of oil rigs steady for a second straight week at 747 in the week to Dec. 29. That was 222 more than the 525 rigs at the end of 2016, General Electric Co's Baker Hughes Inc energy services firm said on Friday. (Reporting by Vijaykumar Vedala in Bengaluru; Editing by [Read more]
Long-delayed N.W.T. gas pipeline project cancelled and partnership dissolved
CALGARY - Imperial Oil says its much-delayed $16.1-billion project to build a natural gas pipeline across the Northwest Territories from the coast of the Beaufort Sea to northern Alberta has finally been cancelled. In a brief news release posted on its website late last week, the Calgary-based company says the partners in the 1,200-kilometre Mackenzie Gas Project have decided not to proceed and are dissolving the joint venture. It says the project initiated 17 years ago could not [Read more]
Vital Announces Closing of Debenture Offering
CALGARY, Alberta, Dec. 28, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Vital Energy Inc. (“Vital”) announced today that it has completed the closing of the previously announced non-brokered private placement offering of 8% secured convertible debentures in the principal amount of $100,000, subject to TSX Venture Exchange final approval. The debentures bear interest at the rate of eight percent (8%) per annum, calculated and paid quarterly and mature on December 28, 2018. The debentures are secured against the [Read more]
Blackbird announces financial results for Quarter ending October 31, 2017
CALGARY, Alberta, Dec. 28, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- (TSX-V:BBI) Blackbird Energy Inc. (“Blackbird” or the “Company”) is pleased to announce its financial and operational results for the quarter ended October 31, 2017. Blackbird’s unaudited condensed consolidated interim financial statements and related management’s discussion and analysis for the quarter ended October 31, 2017 are available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com and are also posted on Blackbird’s website at www.blackbirdenergyinc.com. Q1 [Read more]
Energy company charged after two workers at Alberta plant killed in explosion
EDMONTON - Nexen Energy is facing workplace charges following the deaths of two oilsands workers in northern Alberta. The men had been doing maintenance work in a hydrogen compressor building at the company's Long Lake upgrader near Anzac on Jan. 15, 2016, when there was an explosion. Drew Foster, 52, of Niagara Falls, Ont., was pronounced dead at the scene and David Williams, 30, of Scotchtown, N.S., later died in hospital. Nexen Energy (TSX:NXY), a Calgary-based [Read more]