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Providing coverage of Alaska and northern Canada's oil and gas industry
February 2010

Vol. 15, No. 8 Week of February 21, 2010

Greening of Oil - Latest from Mac Ackers

CALLING ALASKA JOB HUNTERS … The North Slope Insider report from Alaska Pipeline Job Info., says there is good news and bad news for job hunters.

First the report’s bad news: The U.S. Corps of Engineers denied a permit for ConocoPhillips to expand in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska, eradicating 400 new jobs. The project is now on hold pending ConocoPhillips’ appeal.

Now the report’s good news: ExxonMobil’s eastern North Slope Point Thomson project is on schedule, expecting the current workforce to expand from 200 to 600 (mostly contract employees) in 2010-11.

A member of ExxonMobil’s management team told Mary, who runs Alaska Pipeline Job Info., that “this is only the beginning.” ExxonMobil has big plans for Alaska.

SNAKE OIL SCIENCE … If you’re interested in reading a response to Sarah Palin and others who raised a ruckus about “snake oil science” when referring to climate change, here’s a response from one of the people in charge of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s fourth assessment — the report that contained the error about the amount of melting anticipated for Himalayan glaciers: Setting the climate record straight (http://www.nature.com/news/2010/100217/full/news.2010.77.html) Not offering an opinion. Just some alternative reading. Let me know what you think.­

FINALLY, ANOTHER ENERGY EINSTEIN … In its six-week existence, Greening of Oil has posted only one story in its Energy Einsteins’ section. Sometime today a second one will be posted. This one features Rice University’s Kyriacos Zygourakis. He’s the guy on this week’s cover. Youngish looking, but he started his career studying coal gasification during the OPEC embargo in the 1970s. Yep. The headline of the Energy Einsteins’ piece is something like, “Zygourakis: think small for biofuels success”. If you know someone who should be featured let me know!

FACTS NEVER GET IN THE WAY OF OPINIONS … This time my least favorite reader comment came from someone on the Far Left (last week I picked on the Far Right): “You can’t tell me oil companies are reducing the environmental footprint of their operations out of the goodness of their hearts!” (I say, where does one begin?) “The last time I checked oil companies were for-profit companies, not religious institutions,” I quipped, taking a line from our publisher and a similar comment she received. Motives didn’t matter, I explained, as long as their environmental impact was negligible. Turns out her retirement fund includes ExxonMobil stock. The conversation got a whole lot more realistic.

Contact me! I am Greening of Oil’s social networker. My weekly column is posted in both Petroleum News and on Greening of Oil’s Buzz page. My email address is [email protected]






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