Alberta’s oil industry braces against hostility from NDP government
Category Archives: Energy
Barack Obama seeks to harm Canada’s economy
Link
Barack Obama seeks to harm Canada’s economy
“Understand what this project is: It is providing the ability of Canada to pump their oil, send it through our land, down to the Gulf, where it will be sold everywhere else. It doesn’t have an impact on U.S. gas prices.”
Saudi Arabian price war with U.S. oil frackers
Link
Saudi Arabian price war with U.S. oil frackers
We’re seeing a high stakes game of chicken, with the Saudis and OPEC betting on the likelihood that American shale producers will feel the pinch of sustained low crude prices before the cartel’s petro-states do.
[…]
There’s one potentially fatal flaw in that plan, however: American innovation. U.S. drillers continue to improve on the techniques that let them unlock shale in the first place, and the breakeven prices for various formations are dropping accordingly.
Republican congress to advance construction of Keystone Pipeline
Link
Republican congress to advance construction of Keystone Pipeline
These midterm election results won’t automatically result in a decision. A 61-member majority still falls short of the 67 votes needed to overturn a Presidential veto…
Whither oil prices, once ISIS takes Bagdad?
Link
Two new liquified natural gas export facilities approved in USA
Link
What Iraq means to future oil prices
Link
The good news is: oil prices may only be $215 a barrel in 2035 if Iraq gets its act together.
The bad news is: they’ll be much higher if it doesn’t…
H/t: Instapundit
Dinosaur fossils found in Alberta oil sands
Link
Dinosaur fossils found in Alberta oil sands
One fateful day about 110 million years ago, in the rainforests of what is now British Columbia, a hapless ankylosaur lost its way among the ferns and fauna and ended up in the Western Interior Seaway – a massive open waterway that stretched from the Arctic Ocean to the Gulf of Mexico. The land-based dinosaur likely drowned, was swept far out to sea and soon buried in the sediments of today’s northeastern Alberta.

An unnamed species of nodasaur found in the Alberta oil sands. From Alberta Oil Magazine.
A map of the Western Interior Seaway from which the Alberta oil sands was formed. 100 million years ago, the North American continent was split into three landmasses:

From Wikipedia.
Russia and China’s wars for oil
Link
Alberta boycotts Russian oil conference
Link
Europe takes second look at Albertan oil sands after Putin’s aggression in Ukraine
Link
Solar power facility kills large numbers of birds
Link
Solar power facility kills large numbers of birds
“It’s a bird, it’s aflame:”
But once the birds enter the focal field of the mirrors, called the “solar flux,” injury or death can occur in a few seconds. The reflected light from the mirrors is 800 to 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit. Either the birds are incinerated in flight; their feathers are singed, causing them to fall to their deaths; or they are too injured to fly and are killed on the ground by predators, according to a report by the National Fish and Wildlife Forensics Laboratory…
Once ignited, the birds plummet to the ground like tiny meteors; workers at the Ivanpah facility have taken to referring to such events as “streamers.” Observers witnessed “an average of one streamer event every two minutes.” The flare-ups also occur when dust or insects are ignited, but birds cause an alarming number of them. Last October, researchers from the US Fish and Wildlife Service collected 141 bird carcasses from Ivanpah over the course of just three days.
The movement towards Zero Liquid Discharge in industrial processes
Link
The movement towards Zero Liquid Discharge in industrial processes
Progress has been made in lowering capital costs, however. “When we started out seven years ago, we had a total installed cost factor of 5.0,” says Heins. “That meant that a $10 million unit cost $50 million after installation. Now, we’re on our fourth generation modular design, and we’ve reduced the total installed cost factor down to 1.8-2.0. A $10 million unit now costs $18-$20 million total installed. That makes produced water evaporation a lot more economically viable.”
Although the recession has had a negative impact on many sectors of the economy, ZLD has not slowed dramatically. In fact, industry analysts predict a cumulative annual growth rate for recovery/ reuse systems in excess of 200% over the next decade, of which a significant portion could be accounted for by ZLD capacity. “The economic and regulatory climate is such that ZLD or near zero discharge is going to continue to grow rapidly,” says Cornish. “We see great potential.”
Camps for oilfield workers
Link
Keystone XL pipeline popularity at 61%
Link
Keystone XL pipeline popularity at 61%
An all-time high.