India to Invest up to $10 Billion in Tar Sands

July 4, 2008By Andy RowellBlog Post 3 Comments

As oil creeps towards an unprecedented $150 a barrel the Indian Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Murli Deora has denied that India and China were responsible for the recent oil rise. Deori said that the growth in consumption in India was less than in many nations: “I take this opportunity to set the record straight. … Read More

All is not well in Alberta..

June 20, 2008By Andy RowellBlog Post 1 Comment

When the oil industry answers it critics about whether we are running out of oil, the word Alberta normally comes into the conversation pretty soon. Alberta’s tar sands have reserves estimated at just behind Saudi Arabia, and are seen as the industry’s salvation (after Iraq). The only problem being for oil sands is that they … Read More

Less than Half Americans Have Heard of Oil Sands…

June 11, 2008By Andy RowellBlog Post 2 Comments

A survey by a major PR company, Fleishman-Hillard into how Americans and Canadians reconciled the need for new oil supplies against environmental concerns, has come up with some interesting facts: Despite the furore over oil sands, it found that less than half of American respondents were aware of the existence of oil sands, which make … Read More

Oil Sands Project Gets Goahead

June 6, 2008By Andy RowellBlog Post

The crude politics of oil sands is laid bare for all to see. Despite a court ruling stopping the oil sands project the Canadian government is giving Imperial Oil the green light to begin construction of its $8-billion Kearl oil sands mine. In a notice yesterday, the government said the federal cabinet endorsed an environmental … Read More

Going backwards, further and faster…

June 5, 2008By Andy RowellBlog Post

Happy World Environment Day! Not so in America, though. It may be the most polluting and dirty oil on the planet, but American refiners are tripping over themselves to make investments to dramatically increase imports from Alberta’s oil sands. Figures released yesterday show that the oil industry is spending about $53 billion to expand or … Read More

EnCana to Split

May 12, 2008By Andy RowellBlog Post

EnCana Corp, Canada’s biggest energy company, is going to buck the trend in the oil industry of mergers, and split into two separate oil and natural gas firms in an effort to wring out more value with crude prices at record highs. The new oil firm, worth about a third of the enterprise value, will … Read More

Oil Sands Project in the Dock

May 7, 2008By Andy RowellBlog Post

Another day, another court room battle concerning big oil. This time its oil sands in the dock. Imperial Oil’s (majority owned by Exxon) fight to win the right to drain muskeg at an oil sands project begins today in an Alberta courtroom. At a time of intense public scrutiny of the region and the way … Read More

Canada’s Stephen Harper Is An “Eco-Criminal”

November 27, 2007By Andy RowellBlog Post 1 Comment

Although one dinosaur Commonwealth leader, John Howard of Australia has thankfully been confined to history, there are others out there still grazing happily. Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper has been called “a saboteur” and “environmental criminal” for refusing to sign up to a climate deal at the Commonwealth meeting in Africa. Harper, was also condemned … Read More