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.
Tatneft, Shell Deal on Russian Oil Sands
Associated Press 09.27.07, 11:04 AM ET
MOSCOW -
Russian oil producer OAO Tatneft said Thursday it signed a deal with Royal Dutch Shell Group to jointly develop oil-bearing tar sands in the central Tatarstan region.
The company gave no indication of when it expected to start producing oil from the project, or how much it could ultimately produce. Earlier reports had put the project's potential daily output at around 40,000 barrels.
As race for oil-rich Arctic heats up, Inuit stake their claim, too
Indigenous to the region, the Inuit want a 'meaningful voice' in the territory dispute.
By Colin Woodard | The Christian Science Monitor / from the September 25, 2007
"The rise in value of the Canadian dollar "is an energy story," said Busch. With crude oil futures trading at more than $83 U.S., investment capital is pouring north to help extract oil from so-called tar sands, also known as oil sands, in the province of Alberta.
"The average cost to produce a barrel from tar sands is $40 to $45," Busch said. The current world oil price "puts oil development from tar sands on steroids."
Go crazy: Dollar sinks below loonie
Bill Barnhart | Market report
September 21, 2007
Booming Alberta crippled by wildcat strikes by frustrated tradesmen
September 16, 2007
EDMONTON (CP) — Alberta's booming construction landscape is being disrupted with pickets and protests as a complicated labour law that hobbles building trade unions from striking is being attacked by hundreds of workers.
The giant Petro-Canada upgrader project in Edmonton was crippled for several days last week after unionized workers refused to cross picket lines set up by carpenters and other tradesman seeking higher wages but unable to stage a legal strike.
Peak Oil and Gender
Jon Lebkowsky
September 17, 2007 8:27 AM
Kurt Cobb at Energy Bulletin wonders whether peak oil is a gender issue or, as he says, a "guy thing." (Thanks to Paul Robbins for the pointer.)
Tar sands are the enemy of the planet
Posted by Jon Rynn at 12:35 PM on 14 Sep 2007
Our civilization's addiction to oil is being displayed in all its nefarious glory in the tar sands of Canada. According to Chris Nelder:
My heart bleeds for the oiligarchy wringing their hands in their country estates.
-Petro-Pete
West's ravenous oil appetite may lead to tough sacrifices
GWYN MORGAN
Read Bio | Latest Columns
September 17, 2007
CALGARY -- The Southern family's Spruce Meadows equestrian centre near Calgary is ranked as the world's top show-jumping venue. Each September, its flagship Masters Tournament brings together the sport's best horses and riders.
Shifting oil sands
Telegraph UK Magazine
15/09/2007
In the hunt for new fuel sources, a vast swath of western Canada is being mined for its precious 'oil sands'. Jack Fairweather visits the centre of the new gold rush. Photographs by Jonas Bendiksen
Donnie Leblanc is surprisingly nonchalant for a man who has just blown $20,000 on a two-day trip to Las Vegas. But then, since he came to northern Canada, he hasn't had to worry too much about money - and there is plenty more where that came from. In a few months' time he will have saved enough to hit the casinos again.
Oil industry 'sleepwalking into crisis'
Former Shell chairman says that diminishing resources could push price of crude to $150 a barrel
By David Strahan and Andrew Murray-Watson
Published: 16 September 2007 // Independent UK
Lord Oxburgh, the former chairman of Shell, has issued a stark warning that the price of oil could hit $150 per barrel, with oil production peaking within the next 20 years.
Is it too late to stop the ethanol con job?
ERIC REGULY
September 14, 2007 at 6:27 AM EDT
ROME — Not so long ago, you could feel complacent - smug even - about your little greenish exertions. You traded your SUV for a smaller set of wheels. You bought compact florescent bulbs and dragged the old push mower out of storage. You approved of ethanol and other biofuels and vowed to buy them whenever possible. Okay, there wasn't a lot of sacrifice involved. But you could feel a tad superior to your fossil-fuel-slurping neighbours.
