This is not looking so good. Firstly you have the multi-billionaire Koch Brothers, darlings of the Tea Party, who are the current cash providers for climate change denial industry. And then you have the dirty Albertan tar sands where the oil is so much more carbon intensive to extract that it will help cook the … Read More
tar sands
Two Disasters, One Conflict, One Bad Result
Two years ago the oil price hit the floor at $33 a barrel. Today, on the back of the Libyan conflict, the price for Brent Crude is $116 a barrel. Two years ago, development of the Canadian tar sands was stalling with many projects being put on hold. According to the International Energy Agency, the … Read More
Tar Sands Threatens Canada-EU Deal
This is a diplomatic row that has been rumbling for some time and it could get nasty. Back in 2009, the EU proposed legislation that would cut imports of dirty tar sands from Canada, as part of its Fuel Quality Directive, which was introduced to encourage cleaner, greener fuels. Canada was worried that the tar … Read More
Posting the Wrong Message on the Tar Sands
When Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper met Barack Obama at the end of last week he asked the American president to support a highly controversial $7-billion pipeline that could double the amount of dirty tar sands that could be exported to the United States. TransCanada’s proposed Keystone XL pipeline has been on hold since last … Read More
Reserves Replacement Ratio: past its sell-by date?
Is a key valuation metric used by analysts to assess oil companies pushing big oil towards riskier and riskier projects? Those of us outside the financial sector may not be too familiar with acronyms such as RoACE, NAV or RRR. But the last one in particular has been intriguing me lately because of its implications … Read More
Canada’s Secret “Sensitivities” over Tar Sands
Six years ago, in preparation for George Bush’s visit to the US, leaked Diplomatic cables by Wikileaks show that the ecological cost of the dirty sands was not seen as a diplomatic issue of contention. A message to President Bush by America’s Ambassador in Canada, noted that, in advance of Bush’s visit to Canada at … Read More
“Gracias Por Nada” Canada
So its week two at the climate talks, when the heavyweights begin to arrive. Over the next few days, environment ministers, Prime Ministers and Presidents will all head to the Mexican resort of Cancun. Due to arrive tomorrow is Albertan Environment Minister, Rob Renner, who will be greeted by a sarcastic “muchas gracias” newspaper adverts. … Read More
The IEA acknowledges peak demand is needed
This year’s IEA World Energy Outlook (WEO) contains a startling peak oil prediction. In order to prevent climate change getting out of control, global demand for oil should peak by 2018 at only 1 million barrels per day (Mbpd) more than today’s demand level. While the IEA has been much criticized for denying peak oil … Read More
BP says to Cancun: Invest in the tar sands
Timing, as I have pointed out in this blog before, is everything. Day two of the Cancun climate summit and you would have thought that politicians and companies would be tripping over themselves to portray themselves as clean and green. But not BP. The oil giant is off-loading assets left, right and centre. Just days … Read More
Shell to Increase North American Output by 40 Percent
BP might be America’s bette noir right now after the Deepwater Horizon spill, but its fierce rival Shell is planning a massive expansion in the region. Shell plans to expand its operations in tar sands and in deepwater in the Gulf of Mexico. So never mind the repeated calls by environmental groups, communities and investors … Read More