Category:

French energy company Total investing in Canadian oil project

PARIS, Nov. 1 (UPI) — French energy company Total said it decided to proceed with an investment in an oil sands project in Canada, that is expected to yield 180,000 barrels per day. Total said it expected to spend more than $13.5 billion in the four years it should take to develop the Fort Hills oil sands mining project in Alberta, approximately 55 miles north of Fort McMurray. “With an expected mine life in excess of 50 years based on current planned production rates, Fort Hills represents more than 3 billion barrels of resources and strengthens Total’s global portfolio by adding geographic diversity and long-plateau production with limited geosciences risk,” Yves-Louis Darricarrere, president of upstream operations for Total, said in a statement. Total has been involved in Canadian operations for 15 years. Last year, it was associated with the production of about 12,000 barrels of oil per day in […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Shell moves ahead with 80,000 bpd project in Alberta, Canada

THE HAGUE, Netherlands, Oct. 31 (UPI) — Royal Dutch Shell said Thursday it was moving ahead with a project in Alberta, Canada, expected to produce 80,000 barrels of oil per day. “I’m pleased we’re moving ahead with this important project,” Lorraine Mitchelmore, a vice president in charge of heavy oil developments, said in a statement. “Our decision to invest in Carmon Creek has been carefully studied with the goal of designing a project that is competitive from a commercial, technological and environmental perspective.” Shell owns a 100 percent stake in the Carmon Creek facility. Heavier grades of Canadian oil are too thick to flow naturally so Shell will use a steam injection system to heat the oil and reduce its viscosity. “Once the project is up and running the aim is to virtually eliminate the need for freshwater use for steam generation through recycling of water produced with the […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

No Pipeline? Exxon Thinks About Taking the Train

REUTERS By Daniel Gilbert Exxon Mobil Corp.’s ambition of boosting production depends in large part on wringing more crude from the oil sands of Western Canada. One challenge: Getting that crude to market to get paid. With room on Canadian oil pipelines in short supply, and the future of the proposed Keystone XL project in doubt , Exxon is considering building a rail terminal in Edmonton, Alberta to haul crude into the U.S. on trains, a company executive said on Thursday. “We are looking at a number of logistical opportunities that we have,” David Rosenthal, Exxon’s head of investor relations, said of routes out of the oil sands, including Keystone XL. “But, as would be prudent, we are looking at other options” like the rail terminal. Some big refiners have pooh-poohed the importance of TransCanada Corp.’s Keystone XL pipeline expansion, which would carry crude to the hub of refineries […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Canada Approves ConocoPhillips Test Oil Drilling in Arctic North

CALGARY, Alberta—Canada’s federal energy regulator on Wednesday approved an application by ConocoPhillips COP +0.11% ConocoPhillips U.S.: NYSE $ 73.33 +0.08 +0.11% Oct. 31, 2013 4:00 pm Volume (Delayed 15m) : 5.44M AFTER HOURS $ 73.30 -0.03 -0.04% Oct. 31, 2013 6:27 pm Volume (Delayed 15m): 118,539 P/E Ratio 12.16 Market Cap $89.59 Billion Dividend Yield 3.76% Rev. per Employee $3,383,200 10/31/13 What WSJ Canada Is Reading Thu… 10/31/13 ConocoPhillips’ Profit Jumps o… 10/30/13 Canada Approves ConocoPhillips… More quote details and news » COP in Your Value Your Change Short position to begin exploratory drilling for oil in the Northwest Territories, the first such permission granted for hydraulic fracturing of horizontally drilled wells in the Canadian Arctic north. The National Energy Board authorized the company to drill two exploratory wells near the town of Norman Wells, which is 684 kilometers (425 miles) northwest of the provincial capitol of Yellowknife. ConocoPhillips […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Looking for a Way Around Keystone XL, Canadian Oil Hits the Rails

HOUSTON — Over the past two years, environmentalists have chained themselves to the White House fence and otherwise coalesced around stopping the Keystone XL pipeline as their top priority in the fight against global warming. But even if President Obama rejects the pipeline, it might not matter much. Oil companies are already building rail terminals to deliver oil from western Canada to the United States, and even to Asia. Since July, plans have been announced for three large loading terminals in western Canada with the combined capacity of 350,000 barrels a day — equivalent to roughly 40 percent of the capacity of the proposed Keystone XL pipeline that is designed to bring oil from western Alberta to refineries along the Gulf Coast. Over all, Canada is poised to quadruple its rail-loading capacity over the next few years to as much as 900,000 barrels a day, up from 180,000 today. […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Suncor Approves $12.9 Billion Oil Sands Project With Teck, Total

Suncor Energy Inc. (SU) , Canada’s largest energy company by market value, will proceed with the C$13.5 billion ($12.9 billion) Fort Hills oil sands project as it seeks to increase production. The venture with Total SA (FP) and Teck Resources Ltd. (TCK/B) will begin producing crude in 2017, adding 180,000 barrels a day of output in northern Alberta , the company said yesterday in a statement. Calgary-based Suncor’s share of the costs will be C$5.5 billion. The approval comes after Chief Executive Officer Steve Williams earlier this year canceled another venture with Total in a bid to reduce costs and boost profitability. Fort Hills, which had initially been slated to start in 2016, has 3.3 billion barrels of reserves and will produce oil for about 50 years, the company said. “This project will be a significant source of long-term cash flow for the company and contribute strong returns for […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Canada defends appeal to Asian energy investors

OTTAWA, Oct. 29 (UPI) — Asian investors remain keen on playing a role in the Canadian energy sector despite concerns over federal investment rules, Canada’s resource minister said. Canadian Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver spoke to The Globe and Mail newspaper about his recent investment discussions with Asian investors. “I certainly got no sense from anybody that they are turned off the prospect of investing in the Canadian industry,” he said in an interview published Monday. The Canadian government in December passed a rule prohibiting state-owned companies from taking on a majority stake in companies working on oil sands developments in Canada. Major Asian companies, like China National Offshore Oil Corp., are state-owned. Oliver said he noted a slowdown in Asian investments in Canada but attributed it to a sluggish economy and to the lack of export infrastructure along his country’s western coast. The Canadian government is supporting pipeline […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Rail shipment of crude oil to increase, Canadian Pacific official says

CALGARY, Alberta, Oct. 24 (UPI) — Crude oil deliveries by rail are expected to increase, Canadian Pacific Executive Vice President Jane O’Hagan said in a third-quarter statement. “Over time we will see increasing volumes of heavy crude moving with different economics and drivers of demand than the lighter Bakken crude that we predominately move today,” O’Hagan said Wednesday, the Platts energy news service reported. The Bakken shale formation is spread out over parts of U.S.-Canadian border. It is a different grade from the heavier oil found in the Athabasca region spread in Alberta province. Canadian Pacific has transported 65,000 carloads of crude oil, or approximately 45 million barrels of oil, so far this year. The company expects to reach 90,000 carloads of crude oil by year’s end, Platts reported. Crude oil deliveries by rail are increasing in North America because production has outpaced existing pipeline capacity. No injuries were […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Energy Administration says U.S., Canada far ahead in shale production

WASHINGTON, Oct. 24 (UPI) — The United States and Canada are the only countries producing commercial quantities of shale natural gas, a U.S. energy agency said. Last year, the last full year for which statistics are available, U.S. production averaged 25.7 billion cubic feet per day and Canada produced an average of 14 billion cubic feet per day, the Energy Department’s Energy Information Administration said. Nearly all of the U.S. production came from five areas in the central United States and approximately 15 percent of Canada’s production came from the Muskwa-Otter Park shale formation in northern British Columbia and the Montney basin, spread out over British Columbia and Alberta, the agency said. The EIA, in a report Wednesday, said China is the only country outside of North America that has reported lucrative deposits of shale natural gas. Shale gas in China, however, accounts for 1 percent of its total […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Alberta Regulator: Energy Development at Risk if Enforcement Wanes

CALGARY–The head of Alberta’s new energy regulator said the government body must balance the energy industry’s desire for faster project approvals against the enforcement of environmental laws or else risk losing support at home and abroad for exploiting the province’s vast oil and gas resources. “We’ve got to get this right because this is a world-class resource, but we can lose the ability to develop it if we can’t demonstrate that we’re doing it in a responsible fashion,” Gerry Protti, chairman of the Alberta Energy Regulator, said in an interview Wednesday. Energy-rich Alberta has been keen to tout its environmental credentials amid a heated debate about the impact of oil-sands production in its boreal forests and growing global crude-oil consumption. Vocal environmental opposition has stalled major projects to expand the province’s market access, notably TransCanada Corp.’s TRP.T +0.22% TransCanada Corp. Canada: Toronto $ 46.24 +0.10 +0.22% Oct. 24, 2013 […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple