Guardian: “More than 70 environmental groups called on Barack Obama to take the lead on climate change on Monday, urging him to shut down ageing power plants and block a controversial tar sands pipeline project.” Read more
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The company I founded in 1998 to design and supply solar energy solutions for the built environment. Solarcentury
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Bet on Obama backing the Keystone XL pipeline: John Dizard.
In the FT: “Many, if not most, of the headline-dominating Washington political fights are less significant than they appear to be. ….However, the fight between TransCanada, the sponsor of the proposed Keystone XL oil pipeline from the Alberta tar sands to the US Gulf coast, and the North American environmental movement is a lot of noise about a very important matter.” Read more
NASA’s Hansen on Obama and the tar pipeline: he must act.
Jim Hansen in the LA Times: “Researchers now say that the Alberta tar sands contain 360 to 510 billion tons of carbon — more than double that of all oil burned in human history.” Read more
Carbon bubble means business models of tar sands co’s at risk: S&P.
Carbon Tracker recently collaborated with global credit-ratings agency Standard & Poors to publish ‘What a carbon-constrained future could mean for oil companies’ creditworthiness’. Read more
Largest climate protest in US history pressures Obama to reject tar pipeline.
February 17, 2013 Oil
Guardian: “Thousands of protesters descended on Washington DC on Sunday demanding Barak Obama shut down the Keystone XL pipeline project to show he is serious about taking action on climate change.”
Senate majority urges Obama to approve Keystone XL pipeline.
Guardian: A bipartisan majority in the Senate has urged approval of the Keystone XL pipeline. Read more
BP CEO: peak oil theories “increasingly groundless.”
January 16, 2013 Oil
Guardian: “Bob Dudley’s remarks came as the company published a study predicting oil production will increase substantially, and that unconventional and high-carbon oil will make up all of the increase in global oil supply to the end of this decade, with the explosive growth of shale oil in the US behind much of the growth.” Read more
BP: all net growth in global oil supply to 2020 will be unconventional oil.
FT: “Surging production of unconventional oil will provide all the net growth in global oil supply to 2020, as the boom in “tight oil” ramps up and biofuels take off, according to BP.” Read more
70 US NGOs urge Obama to deliver on climate change in second term.
Jeff Rubin: Why shale oil won’t save you at the pumps.
November 22, 2012 Oil
In the Globe and Mail: “The IEA’s rosy forecast isn’t all that it appears – and it certainly isn’t going to lead to a significant break at the pump for you. ….The problem isn’t the availability of the fuel but the price needed to get it out of the ground. Unfortunately, that’s already more than we can afford. Read more
Fund managers to pressure oil sands operators.
October 21, 2012 Oil
A group of 49 investors with more than $2tn under management launches an initiative pressuring companies operating in the Canadian oil sands to improve their environmental performance, arguing that value could be impaired if greenhouse-gas emissions or water use are regulated.
“Oil: the next revolution.” 110 mbd by 2020, says ex oil academic.
Harvard University: “Oil production capacity is surging in the United States and several other countries at such a fast pace that global oil output capacity is likely to grow by nearly 20 percent by 2020, which could prompt a plunge or even a collapse in oil prices, according to a new study by a researcher at the Harvard Kennedy School.” Read more
BP-funded researcher forecasts 110 mbd by 2020 and steep dip in oil prices.
Belfer Center, Harvard University: “Contrary to what most people believe, oil supply capacity is growing worldwide at such an unprecedented level that it might outpace consumption. This could lead to a glut of overproduction and a steep dip in oil prices.” Read more
Tar sands emissions could be vastly higher than previously thought.
Scientific American: “Previous studies have vastly underestimated the carbon footprint of the Canadian oil sands by not considering the industry’s impact on peatlands, according to new research. Scientists from the University of Alberta found that 10 operational oil sands mining projects would destroy enough peatlands to release 11.4 million to 47.3 million metric tons of stored carbon into the atmosphere. That release is the equivalent of seven years’ worth of emissions from the oil sands mining region.”
Obama allows TransCanada to push ahead with Texas-Oklahoma part of tar pipeline.
February 27, 2012 Oil
The President gives in to Republican pressure and endorses construction on a key southern portion of the controversial project. Environmental campaigners say he has betrayed them. TransCanada says it will renew its efforts to win the permit for the more contested stretch across Nebraska that would link to the tar sands.
Sunshine Oilsands raises half a billion in largest IPO this year.
February 24, 2012 Oil
The tar sands operator raises $575m on the Hong Kong exchange. FT: “Sunshine, which is backed by Chinese state-owned investors, raised $350m, or 60 per cent of the total amount, from cornerstone investors including China Investment Corp, China’s sovereign wealth fund, and Sinopec Group, the country’s biggest oil refiner.”
America Petroleum Institute threatens Obama with “political backlash”.
January 5, 2012 Oil
The API launches a political campaign called “Vote 4 Energy”, which will use all modern comms to press both Republican and Democratic politicians to support the industry’s agenda, notably the Keystone XL pipeline.
Canada pulls out of the Kyoto Protocol.
December 13, 2011 Climate
Just a day after signing the Durban accord, Canada commits an act that is condemned at home and abroad. China calls it “preposterous.”
Obama decides to push tar sands pipeline decision beyond election.
November 10, 2011 Oil
Citing the need for more studies of the route, so handing a victory to environmental campaigners and a blow to the oil industry.
Human chain of anti-tar-sands protestors forms around the White House.
November 7, 2011 Oil
The XL pipeline decision has become a defining issue for Obama’s. As many as 12,000 turned out. Obama was away playing golf.
Tar sands oil imports effectively banned under new EU Directive.
The European Commission has decided to back a new directive on fuel quality setting minimum environmental standards for a range of fuels, including tar sands, coal converted to liquid and oil from shale rock. Member states now have to vote. The UK could vote against.
NASA climate scientist arrested at tar sands pipeline protest.
August 30, 2011 Climate
Jim Hansen on the President’s forthcoming decision about the Keystone XL pipeline: “If he chooses the dirty needle it is game over [for the earth's climate] because it will confirm that Obama was just greenwashing, like the other well-oiled coal-fired politicians with no real intention of solving the addiction. Canada is going to sell its dope, if it can find a buyer. So if the United States is buying the dirtiest stuff, it also surely will be going after oil in the deepest ocean, the Arctic, and shale deposits; and harvesting coal via mountaintop removal and long-wall mining. Obama will have decided he is a hopeless addict.”
Obama administration backs tars sands pipeline from Alberta to Texas.
The Canadians will exploit the tar sands anyway, so there will be no increase in emissions as a result of the 1,700 mile 700,000 barrel a day pipeline, which will have minimal other environmental impacts, says a State Department official.
New York Times editorial: no to the tar sands pipeline.
The NYT opposes the 1,700-mile Keystone XL pipeline citing two worries: spills in sensitive terrain en route to the Gulf, and greater greenhouse intensity than conventional oil production.