HOME PAGE SUBSCRIPTIONS, Print Editions, Newsletter PRODUCTS READ THE PETROLEUM NEWS ARCHIVE! ADVERTISING INFORMATION EVENTS PETROLEUM NEWS BAKKEN MINING NEWS

Providing coverage of Alaska and northern Canada's oil and gas industry
December 2009

Vol. 14, No. 51 Week of December 20, 2009

Canada: Cleaning off a ‘dirty’ image

Canadian, Alberta political, industry leaders defend record in oil sands, say they are ready to participate in any Copenhagen deal

Gary Park

For Petroleum News

Government and industry leaders are fighting back against a tidal wave of criticism and abuse flowing from the Copenhagen climate change summit that has Canada cast as a “corrupt petro-state” because of the Alberta oil sands and the biggest single obstacle to a post-Kyoto deal.

In Denmark for the final days of the summit, two environment ministers — Canada’s Jim Prentice and Alberta’s Rob Renner — are trying to turn the tide of public opinion, against daunting odds.

Prentice is adamant that Canada “wants to achieve … a new agreement,” so long as its policy for cutting greenhouse gas emissions is in lockstep with the United States and it does not “suffer economic pain for no real environmental gain.”

Known for his good cheer and unflappable manner, Renner has been campaigning in Copenhagen, presenting Alberta as the only jurisdiction anywhere with experience operating and regulating a process for imposing financial penalties on major industrial GHG emitters and now investing C$2 billion in four projects to develop and demonstrate carbon capture and storage technologies.

“Protesters and those who posture are using the grand stage at Copenhagen to launch low blows at our province. However, Alberta can hold its head high as a responsible major global energy producer already acting to make real greenhouse-gas reductions.”

He said there is no justification for fingering the oil sands as a greater source of GHGs than oil development in Venezuela or California.

“Alberta is committed to doing its share and we’re not asking for any kind of special concessions or any kind of exemptions for the oil sands,” Renner said.

Rating the Kyoto Protocol as a failure because neither the United States nor China were signatories, he said any pact at Copenhagen “must be comprehensive, fair, achievable and transparent. Make no mistake, Alberta welcomes an ambitious agreement. It’s half-measures that concern us.”

Canada will stick to commitment

Prentice said Canada will stick to its commitment to cut GHGs 20 percent below 2006 levels by 2020.

“We refuse to repeat the mistakes of the past,” he said, in a clear reference to Kyoto.

“That is why it’s imperative that we not rush into a deal for the sake of saying we’ve taken action. There’s always a lot of hype and drama that gets built into this sort of international event, much of it intended to force the hand of participants. We aren’t going to buy into that. We are not going to panic.”

David Collyer, president of the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers said oil and gas producers are doing their share to fight climate change.

While conceding that emissions continue to rise from the industry, Collyer said the critics fail to acknowledge that companies are working to reduce that increase.

“It’s quite an unfair characterization of how our industry fits in a broader context with respect to greenhouse gas emissions and the performance of the oil sands industry over the last several years,” he said, estimating the oil sands operations are responsible for about 0.1 percent of total global GHGs and 5 percent of Canada’s GHGs.

Letter urges halt to projects

His remarks coincided with a letter sent by 11 members of the European Parliament to leading oil and gas executives, urging them to halt their projects in the oil sands because the sector produces two to three times more pollution than the fuel extracted from conventional sources and disrupts natural carbon sinks, forests and peat lands.

“Right now, during the climate negotiations in Copenhagen, the interest of some energy companies in this massively destructive energy source is difficult to understand,” the politicians said. “The momentum for the creation of a global low-carbon economy and turning away from fossil fuels is stronger than ever before.”

The letter landed on the desks of Royal Dutch Shell, BP, Statoil Hydro and Total.

It coincided with a statement by one of the Canadian industry’s most respected voices.

Murray Edwards, vice chairman of Canadian Natural Resources, said the industry must accept some responsibility for “not being as pro-active as it should have been or could have been over the last decade in making sure the public understands the balance in the oil sands between the economy and the environment.”

He suggested that rather than putting money into marketing, the industry should direct its efforts toward “making advancements in terms of the impact on the environment.”

Statoil unapologetic

Of the European-based companies with stakes in the oil sands, Statoil, following its C$2.2 billion takeover of North American Oil Sands Corp. in 2007 and its development of a 10,000-barrel-per-day demonstration project, currently 73 percent complete, makes no apologies for giving such a high priority to the resource.

Lars Christian Bacher, newly appointed president of Statoil’s Canadian unit, said the demonstration plant is designed to prove to the company and various stakeholders that bitumen can be produced profitably and in an environmentally friendly way.

The oil sands are “our single-biggest oil reserve as of today outside Norway,” he said. “Canada has a huge reserve base and we will try to be part of developing the resources for the best of (Alberta) and our company,” Bacher said.

“We are determined to stay in the oil sands and develop the resources,” while being open to any suggestions on how to work closely with those who can suggest ways to reduce the environmental impact.

“Our future projects will be built carbon-capture ready, but we see that kind of technology definitely needs a lot of improvement before it’s economically feasible,” he said.

Bacher said Statoil’s research and development center in Calgary will be a “technology center for heavy oil activities, not only in Canada but elsewhere.”






Petroleum News - Phone: 1-907 522-9469 - Fax: 1-907 522-9583
[email protected] --- http://www.petroleumnews.com ---
S U B S C R I B E

Copyright Petroleum Newspapers of Alaska, LLC (Petroleum News)(PNA)©2013 All rights reserved. The content of this article and web site may not be copied, replaced, distributed, published, displayed or transferred in any form or by any means except with the prior written permission of Petroleum Newspapers of Alaska, LLC (Petroleum News)(PNA). Copyright infringement is a violation of federal law subject to criminal and civil penalties.