Cancelled Teck Oil Sands Project Underscores Global Climate-Energy Policy Tension - "The Frontier project became the latest casualty in oil-producing countries with robust environmental movements agitating to cut...more
As Storm Looms, 4th Circuit Reverses Ruling Against Dominion on Coal Ash Pollution at Chesapeake Site - "Water pollution from a coal ash landfill and settling ponds at a closed power plant in Chesapeake is not a violation of...more
The Saskatchewan Court of Queen’s Bench held in Buffalo River Dene Nation v The Minister of Energy and Resources and Scott Land & Lease Ltd, 2014 SKQB 69, that a decision of the Minister of Energy and Resources to post for...more
In this issue: - Preface - Current Issues in the Oil Sands - Introduction - Advantages of Investing in the Oil Sands - Challenges - Location and Extraction - Emerging...more
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times…for two pipeline projects in the West. TransCanada was successful in the Tenth Circuit on Thursday in its continuing efforts to defend against a preliminary...more
There is increasing interest by oil and gas companies to list on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (“HKEx”). Sunshine Oilsands Ltd, based in Calgary, obtained a primary listing on the Main Board of the HKEx in March 2012. It...more
Last week on Capitol Hill, the House Energy and Commerce Committee majority staff released a report charging that the 1603 Grants in Lieu of Tax Credits program appears to have “unduly benefitted” foreign companies. The...more
On December 7, 2012, the Canadian Minister of Industry announced decisions under the Investment Canada Act (ICA) to allow acquisitions by two foreign state-owned enterprises (SOEs): of Nexen Inc. by China National Offshore...more
Infrastructure development has helped define Canada. Currently, Canadians lead the world’s infrastructure development projects. The infrastructure required for resource development projects such as the oil sands are some of...more
Major Existing Producing Projects - Syncrude - Syncrude Canada Ltd. is the world’s largest producer of synthetic crude oil from oil sands and the largest single source producer in Canada. It supplies about 15...more
Climate Change - The production of petroleum from oil sands uses significant amounts of energy, almost all derived from the combustion of fossil fuels and resulting in CO2 emissions. As a result, oil sands operations...more
Valuation - Land sale spending in Alberta surged in 2010 due to a combination of new plays, enhanced oil sands technologies and a rebound in oil prices. From April 2010 to March 2011, 365,969 hectares of Crown oil...more
Given the magnitude of projected economic activity, oil sands producers will not be the only beneficiaries of the unprecedented development now underway. Aside from the necessary infrastructure developments, a plethora of...more
The growth in extraction and production has been matched by significant investment opportunities in upgrading facilities and transportation infra-structure. Transportation - Over 80 percent of bitumen produced in...more
Oil sands players are focusing most of their investment in technological innovation on mitigating extraction and other operating costs. A number of existing and proposed projects are introducing variants on the...more