THE Canadian Oil Thread (merged)

deMolay · Intermediate Crude Joined: Sep 04, 2005 Posts: 532

Today Alberta announce that a new refinery will be build in Alberta, costing 7B dollars and producing up to 450,000 barrels of diesel/gasoline and kerosene. It will be one of the biggest in N. America. This is big news up here.

fossilnut2 · Posted: Thu Oct 13, 2005 7:44 pm Post subject: Re: Alberta New Refinery

rockdoc123 · Light Sweet Crude Joined: May 16, 2005 Posts: 1658

Announced in the morning National Post. Alberta government along with 16 industry sponsors...including Encan, Canadian Natural Resources, Enbridge, Agrium, Petro-Canada, BP. Cost estimated at $7B, expandable to 450,000 bpd capacity...comparing well with large refineries on Gulf Coast. Estimate 2 years planning stage so really will not come into play for about 4 years I would guess.

Blizzard · Coal Joined: Jun 28, 2005 Posts: 9

I posted it in news a few minutes ago. Just waiting for our hard working editors to post it. Very Happy

deMolay · Intermediate Crude Joined: Sep 04, 2005 Posts: 532

With the help of the Communist Sympathizers in Ottawa, China will try to outbid and replace the Americans as Alberta's biggest consumer and customer for Alberta Oil. By GEOFFREY YORK

Friday, October 14, 2005 Posted at 4:29 AM EDT

From Friday's Globe and Mail

BEIJING — China's investment appetite for the Alberta oil sands has climbed so strongly that it could be importing 400,000 barrels of oil a day from Canada within the next seven years, Natural Resources Minister John McCallum says.

The Chinese oil ambitions in Canada, which intensified yesterday when Mr. McCallum met two of China's most powerful oil executives, are a key element in the Liberal government's aggressive push to diversify Canada's energy sales away from its traditional U.S. markets in the aftermath of the softwood-lumber dispute.

Despite denials from Ottawa, the government's new strategy of pitching oil to China is widely seen as a pressure tactic against Washington after its refusal to comply with the NAFTA softwood ruling. The Americans are ignoring a ruling by a North American free-trade agreement panel that U.S. tariffs on softwood lumber are illegal under U.S. trade law.

The New York Times this week described Ottawa's campaign as "a series of subtle threats" against the administration of President George W. Bush.

Mr. McCallum held meetings in Beijing yesterday with the presidents of two of China's biggest state-owned oil companies. "They expressed strong interest in investing in the oil sands," he said in an interview. "Clearly they are ambitious in their thinking. They are definitely, seriously interested."

He said the companies, PetroChina and CNOOC Ltd., were "very positive" in their response to his pitch to invest in Canada. They are likely to get a more welcoming response from Canada than from the United States, where CNOOC's bid to acquire the American oil company Unocal was blocked by an angry political reaction.

Mr. McCallum said he received the 400,000-barrels-a-day estimate yesterday from Chinese and Canadian investors in Beijing, who called it an "ambitious but realistic target" for China's aspirations in the Canadian oil patch.

If the prediction is accurate, China's oil imports from Canada by 2012 will reach one-quarter of the current level of American oil imports from Canada, allowing Canada to make a substantial cut in its dependence on the United States, which buys about 85 per cent of Canada's oil exports.

"That would certainly be a very good beginning," Mr. McCallum said. "That's definitely significant."

He said he was able to obtain his meetings with the presidents of PetroChina and CNOOC at relatively short notice -- another sign of their strong interest in the Canadian energy sector.

Moving oil-sands crude of any significant volume to China will be challenging and hinges on a new pipeline to move the crude oil to the coast.

There are two proposals but Calgary-based Enbridge Inc. appears to have the edge, backing the $2.5-billion Gateway project. It would wend its way from Edmonton through the rugged terrain of northern British Columbia to the coast for export.

The 400,000-barrels-a-day Gateway line was once planned for 2009, but 2010 looks more realistic. Enbridge has to clear a long regulatory process, get native groups in the region onside and build the line during what could still be a building boom.

Enbridge has said 300,000 barrels could end up in Asia and it is possible all 400,000 barrels will go there, rather than send some to California as is now envisioned.

In April, PetroChina signed a preliminary deal to take 200,000 barrels a day from Gateway, one of three big oil-sands deals China has made this year. In May, SinoCanada Petroleum Corp. -- an arm of state-run Sinopec -- paid $105-million for a stake in the Northern Lights oil-sands project and CNOOC has paid $150-million for a one-sixth stake in MEG Energy, a small Canadian company with proprietary oil-sands technology.

Mr. McCallum is planning to invite Chinese Vice-Premier Zeng Peiyan to tour the Alberta oil sands and visit the new Prince Rupert, B.C., port facilities that could serve the Chinese oil market. He said Mr. Zeng, who would be the highest-ranking Chinese official to visit the oil sands, is likely to accept the invitation. He is the senior cabinet minister with responsibility for the energy sector.

Chinese officials have confirmed their strong appetite for increased oil imports from Canada. In the Chinese media yesterday, a senior Chinese diplomat in Ottawa was quoted as saying that China and Canada "should go deeper in their co-operation on energy and resources and build a long-term stable relationship." The diplomat, Liu Guosheng, said current investments in the Alberta oil sands are "a good start" toward bigger deals.

In his meetings in Beijing yesterday, Mr. McCallum called for quick implementation of the Canada-China "strategic partnership" that was announced last month by Prime Minister Paul Martin and Chinese President Hu Jintao.

"What I said to all the Chinese officials is that I'm here to get moving as quickly as possible on the strategic partnership," he said.

"It's one thing to sign a piece of paper and another thing to put it into action, and it's our intention to put it into action as quickly as possible. We're keen to increase our trade and investor relations with China in the energy sector and we're keen that they invest in Canada and we're hoping to increase our energy exports -- and they responded very positively."

China is likely to increase its oil imports from Canada by acting as an investor, rather than simply as a customer, Mr. McCallum said. This could include takeover bids and greenfield investments, as well as other forms of investment.

"They do not feel limited by how much economically can be sent to China. They could well make investments for sale in third markets. They're also interested in joint ventures or minority holdings or strategic alliances with Canadian companies. They could team up with Canadian companies in joint ventures to enter into production which isn't necessarily destined for China."

With a report from Dave Ebner

Antimatter

And after all the blathering about dependancy and self sufficiency the net effect is zero. Oil is fungible.
_________________
"Production of useful work is limited by the laws of thermodynamics, but the production of useless work seems to be unlimited."

MrBill · Expert Joined: Sep 15, 2005 Posts: 5165 Location: Eurasia

fossilnut2

"With the help of the Communist Sympathizers in Ottawa, China will try to outbid and replace the Americans as Alberta's biggest consumer and customer for Alberta Oil."

Why would China need communist sympathizers to outbid Americans for oil infrastructure and supply? It's quite the opposite: it's called free enterprise...capitalism...the market deciding. Any oil lobby is anything but communist and is profit oriented.

The big issue here is too much oil on the market in 2015 to 2045 or so. The US market can absorb an extra million barrels or so of Alberta oil but then? It's that next million barrel production a day that is in question. Will there be a market? Getting a locked-in half million or so barrel/day infuses the confidence to go ahead and secure more capital to invest in increased bitumen production.

Lokutus · Posted: Sun Jan 08, 2006 9:35 pm Post subject: Canadians to Sit Peak Oil Out

Looks like the Canucks are going to sit on the sidelines as the world copes with Peak Oil.

I sent a friend up in the Great White North an email yesterday stating that I believe we officially hit Peak Oil last fall. Here is his response:

No need to take it seriously here in Canada - we have the oilsands, so
Canada is set regarding energy.

just bought a new camera - Nikon Coolpix P1. The camera that I took to
Mexico crapped out.

How should I respond? We go back a long ways to college.
_________________
Kiss Hank's Ass And He Will Give You a Million Dollars
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fDp7pkEcJVQ

Tyler_JC · Posted: Sun Jan 08, 2006 9:39 pm Post subject: Re: Canadians to Sit Peak Oil Out

jupiter422

The NG disruptions would be devastating.
I bet it would be a summer invasion. Laughing

Elfstrom · Tar Sands Joined: Mar 09, 2005 Posts: 53 Location: Toronto

Tell him to read the article top of the page in the Globe and Mail from Friday January 6 2006. It discusses NAFTA, oil security, etc. Unfortunately the snippit below is all that's available on the online version.

However, there is an entire paper about this by the same author at: link By GORDON LAXER From Friday's Globe and Mail Fri, 6 Jan 2006
The spike in world oil prices after hurricane Katrina and the latest spike that saw prices surge above $60 (U.S.) a barrel this week have highlighted the need to plan for oil and natural gas shortages. The Americans are discussing how to ensure security of supply. So are many other countries. But not Canada.
We now have only 8.7 years of proven supply of natural gas. Conventional oil production is falling. *snip*

Here's another article, relevant to our present election:
Leaders ignore oil depletion link By Charlie Smith; Publish Date: 5-Jan-2006

PenultimateManStanding · Posted: Mon Jan 09, 2006 2:43 pm Post subject: Re: Canadians to Sit Peak Oil Out

elroy · Posted: Mon Jan 09, 2006 8:13 pm Post subject: Re: Canadians to Sit Peak Oil Out

Novus · Light Sweet Crude Joined: Jun 21, 2005 Posts: 1633

Tell your Canadian friend that the oil sands won't make much of a difference after North America runs out of Natural gas. Without cheap natural gas oil sands become wildly expensive.