Oil Sands Truth: Shut Down the Tar Sands

International oil & gas

Stock markets and global oil interests (including war) would be included here, as would attempts to get oil out of high risk, low return areas from oil shale in Colorado, to natural gas and heavy oil in the high eastern Arctic. The tar sands are part of this trend and should be seen as such. What happens with the tar sands will have a tremendous impact on what kind of choices are made elsewhere, environmentally and socially.

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International Oil & Gas is a category for stories relating to tar sand production or climate change but not in any of the projects already listed geographically. This includes other regions of the planet with horrible environmental and high energy costs that, like the tar sands, are only a "choice" because of high prices and the global depletion of easily recoverable oil reserves. Such issues as the threat of war on Iran, "instability" in Iraq and Venezuela or disasters like Katrina will all drive up oil prices, which in turn doubly encourages tar sand production-- by price demand and energy demand. Stock markets and global oil interests (including war) would be included here, as would attempts to get oil out of high risk, low return areas from oil shale in Colorado, to natural gas and heavy oil in the high eastern Arctic. The tar sands are part of this trend and should be seen as such. What happens with the tar sands will have a tremendous impact on what kind of choices are made elsewhere, environmentally and socially.

EU to tackle Canadian tar sands in new law -sources

EU to tackle Canadian tar sands in new law -sources
Wed Feb 23, 2011 3:20pm GMT
Reuters

By Pete Harrison and Juliane von Reppert-Bismarck BRUSSELS, Feb 23 (Reuters) - Europe's trade and climate chiefs are preparing to take a stand against imports of oil from Canada's polluting tar sands, despite fears the move might wreck a multi-billion dollar trade deal, according to EU sources and documents.

European Union sources said this week that Canada had threatened to pull out of trade talks because of the clash, but Ottawa has denied that. [ID:nLDE71H14V]

Madagascar Oil standoff with island government continues (corporate report)

[For background to this story, check here:
http://www.mediacoop.ca/story/devastation-madagascar/5524 ]

Madagascar Oil standoff with island government continues
Tuesday, February 08, 2011
by Andre Lamberti

Madagascar Oil’s standoff with the government is still continuing and the group said it remains extremely concerned by the delays that have been incurred since the initial meeting on December 16 2010 in which the island’s Ministry of Mines and Hydrocarbons (MMH) said it was interested in buying the company's licences.

The stock remains suspended at 75 pence.

ISRAEL: A controversial shale project and energy security

ISRAEL: A controversial shale project and energy security
February 6, 2011
LA Times

The suspension of Egyptian gas supply to Israel has lighted a fire under the feet of Israeli officials, businessmen and shareholders trying to assess how events in Egypt will affect Israel's energy economy.

Initial assessments that it is in Egypt's interests to keep the lucrative gas deals with Israel may prove right when the dust settles. But the shake-up in Egypt is a wake-up call for Israel, too.

Energy: Demand for renewables will be slow, says Saudi oil baron

Fossil fuels will dominate

Energy: Demand for renewables will be slow, says Saudi oil baron

Lynn Moore
The Province
September 14, 2010

Fossil fuels will continue to rule the global energy mix for the next 30
to 40 years, the president and CEO of Saudi Aramco told the World Energy
Congress during Monday's keynote address.

The growth of renewable energy sources and more energy efficiency
technologies will be "slow and uneven" due to a range of factors including
consumer acceptance issues, Khalid Al-Falih said.

OPTI 'going to zero,' RBC says

OPTI is the Israeli Ormat offshoot, designed to bring "cogeneration" (burning dirty waste gunk for 'in-house' energy) to Canada, ala to make it commercially viable to do the same to a similar oilshale deposit in the Negev Desert.

--M

OPTI 'going to zero,' RBC says
BOYD ERMAN
Globe and Mail Update
Posted on Wednesday, February 2, 2011

OPTI Canada's hiring of Lazard Frères & Co. is a sign that the oil sands developer is "preparing for either a debt restructuring or a bankruptcy proceeding" according to RBC Dominion Securities.

National Post: Egypt Crisis opens door for Tar Sands?

Egypt crisis opens door for oil sands

John Ivison, National Post · Thursday, Feb. 3, 2011

The escalating tension in Egypt has provided Stephen Harper with an unexpected opportunity to push for a guarantee that there will be no border tax on Canada's oil sands when he visits U.S. President Barack Obama in Washington on Friday.

The two men are expected to sign a major security and trade deal, which will likely be long on promises and short on specifics.

Total's high friends in low places

Christopher Helman

Dramatic Shift in the Peak Oil Debate

Dramatic Shift in the Peak Oil Debate
Written by Kurt Cobb
Wednesday, 19 January 2011

If you write about, speak about, or talk with your family, friends and co-workers about peak oil, you've almost certainly been asked: "Well, who else is saying what you're saying?"

German Government Rejects German Military Report ‘Peak Oil’ Occurred in 2010

German Government Rejects Report ‘Peak Oil’ Occurred in 2010
By Rainer Buergin - Jan 24, 2011

Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government rejected a report by Germany’s armed forces that global crude-oil production reached its maximum last year, parliament’s HIB newsletter said.

Crude output “can be increased through 2035 under today’s conditions, assuming an optimal development and exploitation of reserves,” HIB said today, citing the government’s response to a query by the opposition Green party. The government’s outlook is based on International Energy Agency estimates, it said.

Extreme Offshore: The Hunt for Hard to Find Crude

Written by Al Fin
Thursday, 27 January 2011

Brazil's quest for extreme oil may cost as much as US$ 1 trillion. That is a lot of money to invest in a such a risky proposition -- to retrieve oil that is miles deep underwater. But oil prospectors and producers around the world are on the prowl for extreme crude -- found in places that previous generations would not have dreamed of going.