Oil Sands News

Canada’s Minister of Environment and Climate Change, Steven Guilbeault, and Minister of Energy and Natural Resources, Jonathan Wilkinson, introduced Canada’s draft framework to cap pollution from the oil and gas sector on December 7. The aim is to reduce emissions and remain competitive in a shifting global market. “No sector of the economy should be allowed to emit unlimited pollution, not when we are all driving toward the same goal of net zero by 2050 to ward off the worst impacts of the climate crisis,” said the ministers in a statement.

In January, Occidental Petroleum announced it had accomplished something no oil company had done before: It sold a shipload of crude that it said was 100% carbon-neutral.While the two-million-barrel cargo to India was destined to produce more than a million tons of planet-warming carbon over its lifecycle, from well to tailpipe, the Texas-based driller said it had completely offset that impact by purchasing carbon credits under a U.N.-sponsored program called CORSIA.Carbon credits…

A latest research revealed that the upstream sector accounted for the bulk of mergers and acquisitions (M&A) in the global oil and gas industry in 2019, generating some high-value transactions during the process.According to GlobalData's theme report, ‘M&A in Oil and Gas – 2020’, the acquisition of Anadarko Petroleum by Occidental Petroleum in April 2019 for a purchase consideration of US$57bn was the highlight of oil and gas M&A activity last year, says GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.Ravindra Puranik, Oil & Gas Analyst at GlobalData, said: “In 2019, the upstream sector, more specifically the US shale plays, witnessed the highest deal activity in the oil and gas industry.

A Canadian company has loaded a test cargo of solid bitumen onto a vessel destined for a refinery in China, the latest effort by the energy industry to avoid congested export pipelines and find new ways to export more oil sands crude.Calgary, Alberta-based Melius Energy loaded 130 barrels of neat bitumen, similar in consistency to a hockey puck, onto a 20-foot shipping container in Edmonton, Alberta, and transported it by rail to the Port of Prince Rupert in northern British Columbia.

Canada's geoLOGIC systems announced that it has purchased TOP Analysis, a provider of Canadian thermal oilsands critical information & competitive intelligence through  an easy to use SaaS platform available to all disciplines."TOP Analysis is regarded as an industry standard for data  associated with thermal projects and all oil & gas regulatory information by engineers, geologists and other technical professionals. TOP Analysis enabled clients to be competitive in a market where the ability to make timely development decisions can make or break a company," said a press note.This acquisition includes the entire product suite and the team behind them…

A surge in final investment decisions (FIDs) this year on new petroleum projects worldwide could see sanctioned volumes of oil and gas – excluding shale and tight oil and gas prospects – nearly triple compared to last year’s tally.The collective volumes could swell past 46 billion barrels of oil equivalent (boe), according to research conducted by Rystad Energy.“We expect global FID volumes in 2019 to triple over last year, and 2019’s megaproject awards could lead to billions of subcontracting dollars in coming years,” said Rystad Energy upstream research analyst Readul Islam.He added: “The only supply segment likely to shrink this year is the oil sands, whereas deepwater, offshore shelf and other conventional onshore developments are all poised to show substantial growth.

The Coast Guard has developed two separate mitigation system prototypes specifically designed for inland and offshore environments and tested them in the Kalamazoo River and Lake Huron.Whenever there is a need for oil, there will always be a risk of oil spills. This is no less true for bituminous sands, commonly known as oil sands or tar sands. Oil sands are mostly found in Alberta, Canada, and comprised of bitumen, sand, clay and water. They are typically viscous, with a texture similar to peanut butter.

Dutch based Damen Shipyards Group said it has signed a contract with Canada’s Group Ocean for the delivery of two new workboats that will provide dredging support services at an oil sands project in northern Canada. The new vessels, both Modular Multi Cats 1205, are made of standard, container-sized units that enable easy transport. The versatile Multi Cat workboat used in many sectors for operations such as towing and anchor-handling, dive support, marine engineering, offshore energy operations and for dredging and dredging support.

The Hebron oil project off the coast of eastern Canada has produced its first oil, operator Exxon Mobil said on Tuesday, in a boost to Atlantic Canada's output after years of weak crude prices. At its peak Hebron will produce up to 150,000 barrels per day (bpd), Exxon said. It will help Atlantic Canada offshore production climb 44 percent to 307,000 bpd by 2024, according to estimates from the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers. The platform is located 200 miles (350 kilometres) off the coast of Newfoundland and Labrador in depths of 300 feet (92 metres) and the oil field…

Majors still control three quarter of output; even after $10 bln of deals, private equity still plays only modest role. French oil major Total has overtaken rival Royal Dutch Shell to become the second-largest producer in the North Sea with its acquisition of Maersk's Norwegian and UK producing assets. The $7.45 billion deal by Total was welcomed by the market, with analysts saying it helped the French company rebalance its portfolio by adding assets in developed countries after going for projects in riskier places such as Iran and Russia. The deal boosts the share of eight global oil majors in the North Sea - Statoil, Total, Shell, Exxon Mobil, Conoco , ENI, BP and Chevron - to back above three quarters of total output.

President Donald Trump will host Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Monday, the White House said on Thursday, a meeting in which trade and a major crude oil pipeline are likely to be on the agenda. The meeting will be the first for the two men since Trump won last November's election. "President Trump and Prime Minister Trudeau look forward to a constructive conversation on strengthening the relationship between our two nations," the White House said in a statement. Canada sends 75 percent of its exports to the United States and is keen to avoid becoming the target of protectionist measures. Trump wants to renegotiate the trilateral NAFTA trade pact with Canada and Mexico, which he says has been disastrous for American workers.

The bullish view for Suncor Energy Inc (SU.TO), Cenovus Energy Inc (CVE.TO) and other Canadian energy producers calls for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau by next month to approve a major pipeline expansion to the west coast, boosting sales of land-locked oil sands crude to Asia. But a growing number of shipping brokers and physical oil traders warn that any new influx of oil will hit a bottleneck in Vancouver, because of the port's inability to accept the megaships that dominate oil trade globally. This bottleneck marks one of the more under appreciated hurdles facing Canadian oil sands crude being shipped from its busiest port of Vancouver, these shipping brokers say. Middle Eastern producers already ship oil ship to Asia far more cheaply, thanks to the bigger vessels they employ. And U.S.

The United States has started to import small batches of Colombia's Puerto Bahia heavy crude, an unusual development that underscores at least a temporary shift in the type of heavy oil flowing into U.S. refineries. Typically, U.S. refineries have received their heavy oil from Canada, Venezuela and Mexico. But shipments of those grades have been limited by Canada wildfires, and slipping output in Mexico and Venezuela. The first shipment of the Colombian heavy crude arrived at Lake Charles, Louisiana in February co-loaded with Vasconia crude for refiner Phillips 66, followed by a 260,000-barrel cargo in March for the same customer, according to sources and data available from the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

In a sign the massive Alberta wildfire is taking a toll on oil transport, Canadian crude exports to the United States dropped 12 percent last week, while another blend of Canadian sweet crude oil rallied as concerns grow about supply. Overall, trading in Canadian crude was quiet, as the second half of the month is generally inactive. Hot and dry weather and strong winds were expected to push the wildfire burning near Fort McMurray, Alberta eastward on Wednesday, continuing to threaten facilities and work camps in Canada's prized oil sands. With the fire projected to grow further, producers are starting to scramble for needed oil supply.

A bigger-than-expected build in U.S. crude inventories to fresh record highs pushed oil markets lower on Wednesday after an early rally over concerns about production cuts in Canada's oil sands region due to a wildfire. U.S. crude stocks, which have been setting record highs since January, grew 2.8 million barrels last week, government data showed, about a million barrels more than analysts' expectations. Gasoline stocks also posted a surprise increase. The data overshadowed concerns over evacuations in the Canadian province of Alberta, where a wildfire raged unchecked through the Canadian city of Fort McMurray in the heart of the country's oil sands region, prompting some companies, including Suncor Energy and Royal Dutch Shell, to cut back production.

Damen Shipyards Group has completed a construction contract comprising two electric-powered Cutter Suction Dredgers (CSD) for the Canadian oil sands industry. With both vessels built in Canada, the contract marks the close cooperation between Damen and Aecon, Canada’s largest publicly traded infrastructure development and construction company. Two newly-built Damen CSDs have commenced operations in Northern Alberta, Canada. The two 40.64-meter-long vessels perform dredging duties in oil sands tailings ponds.

Oil rose on Tuesday to above $31 a barrel on hopes that OPEC and non-OPEC producers were inching closer to a deal to reduce output in the face of one of the biggest supply gluts in decades. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries is making renewed calls for rival producers to cut supply alongside its members, but Russia, seen as key to any deal, has so far refused to cooperate. Iraqi Oil Minister Adel Abdel Mahdi said on Tuesday he saw "some flexibility" for a deal, an idea has been repeatedly mooted and dismissed for over a year. Brent crude was up $1.02 at $31.52 a barrel by 11:05 a.m. EST (1605 GMT), rebounding from a decline earlier in the session. On Jan. 20, Brent reached as low as $27.10, its lowest since November 2003. U.S.

When U.S. investment bank Goldman Sachs said last year that oil could fall as low as $20 per barrel, it assigned a fairly low probability to that scenario. Fast-forward five months and in some parts of the world the forecast has already proved correct. Canadian physical crude has been selling this week at below $20 per barrel, less than it costs to extract and transport. Traders in the options market, meanwhile, are taking protection against prices falling below $25. The developments reflect growing concerns that a market already awash in too much oil is now suffering the double-whammy of a sharp slowdown in U.S. and Chinese demand.

The Canadian province of Alberta, the biggest source of U.S. oil imports, announced the members of its climate change policy review panel on Friday, part of its pledge to implement new rules on greenhouse gas reductions. Environment Minister Shannon Phillips said the panel would offer recommendations to the government by early November, ahead of a key United Nations climate change conference in Paris in December, but did not say when new GHG targets are likely to come into effect. The five members of the panel are University of Alberta energy economist Andrew Leach, former Suncor Energy executive Gord Lambert, Enbridge Inc executive Linda Coady, Pembina Institute board member Stephanie Cairns and Angela Adams, a Metis Fort McMurray school district trustee.

The operator of Canada's largest synthetic crude project said on Saturday it is investigating the causes of an early morning fire at an upgrading plant. Firefighters extinguished the blaze, at Syncrude Canada's Mildred Lake upgrading complex in northern Alberta, and no one was injured, said company spokesman Will Gibson in a phone interview. The fire broke out a few hours after the province's energy regulator announced it was shutting in 95 pipelines operated by Nexen, one of the partners in the project, because of safety issues identified following a large oil-related spill in July. But he said it was too soon to know how production would be affected.

The rapidly changing landscape of crude oil exploration and drilling in the US and Canada, together with economic considerations, logistical issues related to pipeline transport, and the availability of new types of crude oils, including Bakken crude and various forms of bitumen, have resulted in a very sudden and dramatic increase in the transport of crude oil by railroad. “Unit trains” containing 100 or more tank cars are transporting crude oil through regions that have not previously experienced this type of rail transport, and there are significant concerns about safety.

Canada will push ahead with a moratorium on oil tanker traffic along the northern coast of British Columbia, effectively slamming the door on a controversial pipeline project that was already facing massive development hurdles. In a letter released on Friday, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau instructed Transport Minister Marc Garneau to work with numerous other ministries to "formalize" the ban on oil tanker traffic, a Liberal campaign promise ahead of the federal elections last month.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau instructed his natural resources minister to "modernize" Canada's independent pipeline regulator, said a letter released on Friday that gave details on the newly elected leader's environmental plans. Trudeau asked Natural Resources Minister James Carr to ensure the Calgary-based National Energy Board (NEB) has a balanced representation from across the country, as well as sufficient expertise in environmental science, community development and indigenous traditional knowledge. The Liberal prime minister on Friday published all of the mandate letters sent to his cabinet ministers, which instructed several of them to restore environmental legislation that was changed by the previous Conservative government.