Category:

Challengers Attack Canada’s Pro-Oil Harper for Stalled Pipelines

Stephen Harper’s two challengers for prime minister have regularly taken swipes at him during Canada’s election campaign for failing to get oil pipelines built. Harper, a Conservative who represents a Calgary constituency, is regarded as one of the most petroleum-friendly politicians in Canada. Therein lies the problem, according to his opponents. How to start up new pipelines is a major preoccupation for a Canadian oil industry increasingly worried about getting product to market. The troubled Keystone XL project is just one of four proposals mired in delay due to concerns over carbon emissions from the oil sands and potential spills. “He hasn’t got pipelines built. He has made the oil sands an international pariah,” Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau said of Harper during a leaders debate on the economy last week that happened to be held in hard-hit Calgary. “Under Stephen Harper’s stewardship,” New Democratic Party Leader Tom Mulcair said, […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

TransCanada counters Clinton’s Keystone XL claims

Former Secretary of State and Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton says planned Keystone XL oil pipeline runs against global moves to tackle climate change. Photo by Pete Marovich/UPI CALGARY, Alberta, Sept. 23 (UPI) — In a counter to Hillary Clinton , Keystone XL planner TransCanada said pipelines are the safest and least carbon-intensive ways to transport crude oil. Democratic presidential candidate and former Secretary of State Clinton said from the campaign trail in Iowa the planned Keystone XL pipeline from Canada would be a "distraction" to the evolving fight against climate change. "I do not think it is in the best interest of what we need to do to combat climate change," she said. The Republican-led Congress that took its seat in January said passing legislation to approve construction of Keystone XL, offered for U.S. consideration more than six years ago, was job No. 1. The pipeline has become […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Clinton says she opposes Keystone XL pipeline

U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton speaks at the Community Forum on Substance Abuse at The Boys and Girls Club of America campaign event in Laconia New Hampshire, September 17, 2015. Democratic U.S. presidential candidate Hillary Clinton said on Tuesday that she opposes the Keystone XL pipeline. "I have a responsibility to you and other voters," Clinton, a former secretary of state, said at a town hall event in Iowa. “I think it is imperative that we look at the Keystone pipeline as what I believe is the distraction from the important work we have to do to combat climate change.” “Therefore, I oppose it,” she said. (Reporting by Alana Wise; Editing by Tim Ahmann )

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Study calls for US natural gas pipeline replacement to reduce GHG emissions

As energy industry and government officials alike wrestle with the best way to limit the release of methane into the atmosphere, a new study reveals that US cities with programs calling for the replacement of aging natural gas pipeline have 90% fewer leaks per mile than cities without such programs. The study, led by researchers from Stanford University and published in the journal "Environmental Science & Technology Letters," demonstrates "how well pipeline replacement programs have worked," Rob Jackson, the study’s author, said in an interview Monday. Researchers studied programs to replace pipelines made of cast iron and other outdated materials in three US regions, the cities of Durham, North Carolina and Cincinnati, Ohio, and Manhattan Island in New York City. "We identified 132, 351 and 1,050 leaks in Durham, Cincinnati and Manhattan, respectively, across 595, 750 and 247 road miles driven," the study reported. Article continues below… Gas Daily […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

New European gas pipeline closer to launch

Trans-Adriatic Pipeline procurement process puts new European gas pipeline one step closer to completion. Photo courtesy of Trans Adriatic Pipeline AG BAAR, Switzerland, Sept. 21 (UPI) — An invitation for bids for data control mechanisms on the planned Trans-Adriatic gas pipeline puts it one step closer to completion, developers said. The pipeline consortium developing the planned natural gas pipeline said it was inviting companies to pre-qualify for the supply and delivery of a centralized monitoring system as well as a fiber optic cable network meant to feed back to a supervisory control center. "With the launch of these final pre-qualification notices, TAP reaches another important milestone in its procurement process," TAP Project Director Norman Ingram said in a statement. TAP is slated to transport natural gas from the second phase of the Shah Deniz natural gas field off the coast of Azerbaijan as early as 2019. BP, leading Azeri […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Russia’s Turkish Stream pipeline on hold

Russian energy company Gazprom facing delays in build on its Turkish Stream natural gas pipeline. File photo by Igor Golovniov/UPI MOSCOW, Sept. 15 (UPI) — Development of the Turkish Stream natural gas pipeline from Russia is on hold because of installation delays, an official with Russia’s Gazprom said. Alexander Medvedev , the deputy chairman of Russian natural gas company Gazprom, said the late 2016 launch of the pipeline through Turkey was no longer achievable . "Due to the fact that the installation [of the pipeline] did not begin as planned, we are no longer speaking of December 2016," he said. The Kremlin sent two offers to the Turkish government for consideration on a pipeline project in mid-2015. In August, the government said there was still no word on the project from Ankara. Gazprom surveyed the Turkish land route for the 110-mile section of pipeline from the Black Sea last […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Shell confirms has canceled Westward Ho pipeline project

Shell’s company logo is pictured at a gas station in Zurich April 8, 2015. BG Group’s bonds traded up strongly on Wednesday on the back of Royal Dutch Shell’s US$70bn offer to buy the UK firm. Royal Dutch Shell shelved its Louisiana-to-Texas Westward Ho pipeline after years of delays, reductions in scope and after other new pipelines began flowing, a spokeswoman confirmed on Tuesday. "After a thorough review and as a result of changing market conditions, Shell Pipeline Company LP has decided to not proceed with the proposed Westward Ho Pipeline project," spokeswoman Kimberly Windon said. Proposed in 2011 at a top capacity of 900,000 barrels per day, Shell said Westward Ho would move Gulf of Mexico and imported crudes from the St. James, Louisiana oil hub to Houston. The leg between Nederland, Texas and Houston would move up to 500,000 bpd, and the entire project was targeted to […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Will oil’s collapse kill the Keystone pipeline?

While some Wall Street analysts now think the probability of the U.S. economy going into recession are nearly 50 percent , Canada is already there. That bad news comes as Canada gears up for a general election in October and at a time when the slide in global oil prices could spell continuing trouble for Canada’s energy-dependent economy. And that extends to the controversial Keystone pipeline to the U.S. America’s neighbor to the north is the planet’s 11th-largest economy and the U.S.’s biggest trading partner. Last year the U.S. did $634 billion dollars in trade with Canada, booking a $31 billion dollar trade deficit in the process. Canada is a natural resources and commodities exporter, which makes it particularly vulnerable to China’s slowdown. Canada sells China nickel, copper, wood, paper and fish products while importing appliances and consumer goods. In 2014, Canada shipped out close to $20 billion in […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

White House Says Keystone XL Pipeline Review Continues

ABOARD AIR FORCE ONE, Aug 27 (Reuters) – The White House said on Thursday that the U.S. State Department continues to review TransCanada Corp’s proposed Keystone XL pipeline from Canada’s oil sands to Gulf Coast refineries. "This project continues to be under review by the State Department. I’m not aware of any decision that the State Department has forwarded on to the White House," White House spokesman Josh Earnest said, adding that he did not have an update on when the review would be completed. Asked about a report in a Canadian newspaper that said President Barack Obama would deny a permit for the pipeline next week before the Labor Day holiday weekend, Earnest said he had not seen the report. (Reporting by Jeff Mason and Roberta Rampton; Editing by Emily Stephenson)

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple