Role of Arctic gas uncertain 11/25/2007
Regardless of how Canada's energy consumption evolves, the National Energy Board has no doubt that demand for natural gas will rise, led by home and business heating uses, with oil sands extraction an...

Energy board: Jury out on oil sands 11/25/2007
Beset from all sides, sector production scaled back by 200,000 barrels per day by 2015; despite costs and regulatory burdens
It is one of those wake-up calls that come in the middle of a disturbed sleep. You're not sure whether it is real or imagined. But the message is clear enough, spelled out in temperate language by one...

LNG a continental wild card 11/25/2007
North America could benefit from tapping into global resource; greater LNG volumes could displace higher-cost conventional, unconventional, frontier supplies
Liquefied natural gas could play a key role in ensuring supply-and-demand balance and steady prices in North American markets over at least the next seven years, offsetting declines in Canadian export...

THE EXPLORERS 2007: Aurora Gas in holding pattern 11/18/2007
Drilling rig remains idle while company deals with litigation, looks to sell or recapitalize company
Following a difficult year in 2006, Aurora Gas remains in something of a holding pattern while it tries to resolve its future. Aurora Gas has spent the majority of 2007 focused on its ongoing litigati...

Solving Cook Inlet's gas conundrum 11/18/2007
Region needs gas for foreseeable future; gas exploration, gas storage, North Slope gas, LNG all factor into energy supply options
The days of an overabundance of cheap natural gas from Cook Inlet basin may be over, but Southcentral Alaska needs reliable gas supplies for years to come was a recurring theme during the first day of...

Gas supplies enter winter in good shape 11/18/2007
The nosedive in Canadian natural gas drilling that is expected to stretch well into 2008 should not endanger supplies even if North America experiences a cold winter, Canada's National Energy Board sa...

Enstar: Gas prices will decrease slightly 11/11/2007
After a 30 percent increase this year, Enstar Natural Gas Co. customers can expect a slight decrease in the price of gas next year, according to company officials. Enstar, which provides gas to about...

Trusts heed analyst's advice 11/11/2007
Penn West, Canetic create North America's largest conventional trust, eye on global growth; CEOs spurn 'rocking chair'
The future of Canada's energy income trusts was given shape on Oct. 31, the exact anniversary of the federal government's Halloween bombshell that blew the sector apart. It was resounding confirmation...

Message received, not understood 11/11/2007
Alberta tries to spread glad tidings; investment bankers unsure about status of oil sands contracts; producers target heavy cuts
Alberta's Premier Ed Stelmach and Energy Minister Mel Knight are trying to spread a message across North America that their planned royalty hike has caused barely a ripple in stock markets and insisti...

Winter 'toast,' drillers see crumbs for 2008 11/11/2007
Canadian drilling contractors expect rig utilization to hit lowest ebb since 1986-92; braced for further revisions once oil and gas industry understands Alberta's royalty hike
Even without knowing the detailed impact of higher oil and gas royalties in Alberta, Western Canada is heading into its crucial winter drilling season in deep trouble and faces what the Canadian Assoc...

TransCanada eyes larger role 11/11/2007
CEO Hal Kvisle 'enthused' about Mackenzie Gas Project being based on 'flat-line' gas outlook in Alberta; offers TransCanada's expertise to build and operate the C$7B natural gas pipeline
Worried about declining natural gas production in Alberta, TransCanada Chief Executive Officer Hal Kvisle is making no secret of his company's eagerness to expand its role in the Mackenzie Gas Project...

EnCana to EnTexas? 11/11/2007
CEO insists there is no tie between Texas investment, Alberta royalty hikes, but...
On Sept. 28, EnCana Chief Executive Officer Randy Eresman dumped gasoline on the blazing Alberta royalty debate by warning that if the government review panel's recommendations were adopted in full ma...

Fear and loathing 11/04/2007
Some ho-hum about Alberta royalty plan; drillers brace for heavy job losses
One minute Alberta was on the brink of catastrophe, the next it was surrounded by calm. Such was the level of pent-up anxiety that preceded Premier Ed Stelmach's release of his government's new royalt...

Prentice clearing regulatory jungle 10/28/2007
Canada industry minister says will establish Major Projects Office, unravel regulatory tangle that has impeded resource projects
Canada Industry Minister Jim Prentice says he will deliver where others have failed and unravel the regulatory tangle that has choked off major resource and mining projects. He said the federal govern...

Average Joes own Big Oil, says API-commissioned study by leading economists 10/28/2007
"Big Oil" is making outrageous profits since oil prices have more than tripled. And it's grasping executives and wealthy board members who have benefited from this frenzy of profit-taking, right? Wron...

LNG good option 10/28/2007
BG says increasing globalization of market bodes well for North Slope gas
Would Alaska's natural gas be best exported by LNG carrier or by pipeline through Canada to the Lower 48? The answer depends on which economic crystal ball you look in. And BG, one of the world's larg...

Sample reactions from industry 10/14/2007
Here are just a few samples of how oil and gas companies, industry organizations and analysts are reacting to the prospect of paying higher royalties in Alberta: Canadian Natural Resources, Canada's...

Canada 'not for sale,' says Prentice 10/14/2007
Federal government ponders national security test for foreign takeovers of firms by state-owned enterprises, welcomes outside investment
After less than two years in office, the Canadian government of Prime Minister Stephen Harper, while preaching the importance of foreign investment, is being forced to follow the lead of other develop...

Deep Panuke edges closer to go-ahead 10/14/2007
Defying the odds and the doubters, Nova Scotia's offshore Deep Panuke natural gas scheme keeps plodding its way to a go-ahead decision by operator EnCana. Almost four years after being pulled from the...

Resolving Southcentral power puzzle 10/14/2007
Alaska Energy Authority conference seeks options for managing the power grid, while MEA petitions for unified operation
Few of us when we switch on an electric light worry too much about where the electrons that pass through the light bulb originate. But, in Southcentral Alaska, with escalating natural gas prices, ques...

Alberta leader wants calm 10/14/2007
Stelmach: formal royalty, tax talks 'over,' but ministers meet privately with investors
Alberta Premier Ed Stelmach has urged all sides to "just calm down" as a parade of industry heavyweights has issued dire warnings about the consequences of implementing a proposed wholesale change in...

Royalty increase blasted 10/07/2007
EnCana threatens to cut Alberta spending; Petro-Canada echoes concern
It didn't take long for the pot to boil over on recommendations to raise Alberta's royalties for oil, natural gas and oil sands development, with one major Canadian company already threatening to slas...

GAO agrees to look at U.S. refinery practices 09/30/2007
The Government Accountability Office has agreed to a request by the Connecticut congressional delegation to look at how refinery practices can drive up gasoline prices. Lawmakers said Sept. 24 they w...

BP review reflects economic growth 09/23/2007
2001-06 economic growth strongest since mid-1960s; company's annual statistics show strong energy consumption in oil, gas, coal
Economic growth, energy consumption and energy prices have all been strong over the last five years, with global 2001-06 economic growth averaging just more than 4 percent. Economic growth during tho...

Crude oil prices up again as low dollar spurs buying 09/23/2007
Crude oil prices surged further into record terrain Sept. 20, breaching $83 a barrel as the weak dollar and some worrisome weather in the Gulf of Mexico spurred buying. Gasoline futures jumped as well...