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Via: GLOBE-Net (November 17, 2008)
Canada’s oil and gas extraction industry spent $2.8 billion to protect the environment in 2006, more than any other industry, says a new publication by Statistics Canada.
The industry’s expenditures accounted for nearly one-third of the $8.6 billion outlay by businesses operating in Canada for both operating expenses and capital investment in environmental protection. This amount represents all expenditures made in response to environmental regulations, conventions and voluntary agreements.
Industry spending on waste management and sewerage services and pollution abatement and control activities represented almost half of the overall total.
These results followed a long-standing trend in which the largest share of environmental protection expenditures was made to deal with pollutants after they were created.
Provincially, Alberta businesses invested the most in facilities and equipment to protect the environment, again surpassing Ontario, the largest spender up until 2002.
Alberta’s lead position in capital spending on environmental protection was due mainly to high expenditures by the oil and gas extraction industry.
Put in perspective, for every $100 invested by the oil and gas extraction industry, $4 was invested in environmental protection.
Capital investments by Canadian oil and gas producers, most of which operate in Alberta, totaled over $1.7 billion in 2006. This investment occurred in areas such as pollution abatement and control, waste management, pollution prevention, and reclamation and decommissioning.
The oil and gas extraction industry also reported the highest operating expenses ($1.1 billion). This amount went mainly for reclamation and decommissioning, waste management and sewerage services and pollution abatement and control processes.
About $20 out of every $100 invested by the petroleum and coal products industry was for environmental protection, as that industry continued to upgrade refineries to meet new sulphur regulations.
Combined, the oil and gas extraction and petroleum and coal products industries accounted for almost two-thirds of total capital investment for environmental protection.
The industry spent nearly two billion dollars in 2006 on technologies that improve energy efficiency or reduce the use of fossil fuels.
Compared with industry spending on environmental protection, this amount represents a broader set of expenditures. It reflects a motivation by industry to adopt energy-related environmental technologies that exceed responses to environmental regulations, conventions or voluntary agreements.
The oil and gas extraction industry led the way with expenditures of $495.4 million on alternative energy and energy reduction technologies. Most of this amount, $472.9 million, was directed at capital projects.
The electric power generation, transmission and distribution industry spent a similar amount. However, it directed less to capital projects ($155.4 million) and more to operating expenses ($337.8 million).
Industry spending was directed to technologies such as cogeneration, waste energy recovery, solar energy and energy management systems.
http://www.austrade.gov.au/Solar-energy-to-Canada/default.aspx
Profiled industries:
Bioenergy-to-Canada
http://www.austrade.gov.au/Bioenergy-to-Canada/default.aspx
Carbon-capture-and-storage-to-Canada
http://www.austrade.gov.au/Carbon-capture-and-storage-to-Canada/default.aspx
Consumer goods to Canada
http://www.austrade.gov.au/Consumer-goods-to-Canada/default.aspx
Food and beverage to Canada
http://www.austrade.gov.au/Food-and-beverage-to-Canada/default.aspx
Green building to Canada
http://www.austrade.gov.au/Green-building-to-Canada/default.aspx
ICT to Canada
http://www.austrade.gov.au/ICT-to-Canada/default.aspx
Mining to Canada
http://www.austrade.gov.au/Mining-to-Canada/default.aspx
Oil and gas to Canada
http://www.austrade.gov.au/Oil-and-gas-to-Canada/default.aspx
Solar energy to Canada
http://www.austrade.gov.au/Solar-energy-to-Canada/default.aspx
Wind energy to Canada
http://www.austrade.gov.au/Wind-energy-to-Canada/default.aspx
The supply chains of many manufacturing sectors went global when oil was cheap; today, improving energy efficiency is a top concern for executives. This interactive shows numerous opportunities to dramatically reduce energy costs in supply chains.
August 2009 • Tobias A. Meyer
Source: Climate Change Special Initiative
Supply chains have become increasingly global over the latter half of the century, as the globalization of trade was fueled by cheap oil. Today, the transportation of goods consumes 15 million barrels of oil a day—roughly one-fifth of total production.
Increasing the energy efficiency of supply chains
Explore levers for potential energy-efficiency gains in each stage of the supply chain.
In an ongoing study of energy efficiency in supply chains, McKinsey looked at numerous opportunities to reduce the amount of oil used to get goods from a manufacturer’s dock to a retailer’s shelf. These opportunities are available not only to manufacturers but to wholesalers, distributors, carriers, and third-party businesses. We’ve grouped these opportunities into six levers to illustrate possible next steps. Of course, the players in a chain operate independently from one another, so achieving all of these gains would require coordinated efforts and investments—a considerable challenge.
Finally, we examine potential gains in supply chain energy efficiency under three scenarios, based on low, medium, and high oil prices and electricity costs. In any scenario, however, companies would do well to set up energy-efficient supply chains, as their benefits greatly outweigh any downsides.
About the Author
Tobias Meyer is an associate principal in McKinsey’s Frankfurt office.
The International Herald Tribune 14 July 2009 – Exxon Mobil, perhaps the biggest skeptic about biofuels and alternative forms of energy, is about to make a major commitment to produce fuels from algae. Exxon is planning to spend $600 million in its first major foray into biofuels in partnership with Synthetic Genomics, a biotechnology firm founded by J. Craig Venter, the genomic pioneer.
Synthetic Genomics scientific capabilities encompass areas such as environmental genomics, microbiology, biochemistry, bioinformatics, plant genomics, genome engineering, synthetic biology, and climate change. In addition to the strong applied research efforts conducted at SGI, the company sponsors fundamental research at the J. Craig Venter Institute, a not-for-profit organization with more than 400 scientists and staff working on a variety of genomic research and policy fronts.
The investment amounts to a radical change of heart for Exxon, whose chairman and chief executive, Rex Tillerson, once derisively referred to corn-based ethanol as ”moonshine.”
But Emil Jacobs, the vice president of research and development at Exxon’s research and engineering company, said the investment comes after several years of looking at a range of options, including whether algae could be turned into transportation fuels at a competitive cost.
”We did a lot of work looking at alternative sources,” Dr. Jacobs said in an interview. ”We literally looked at every option we could think of with several key parameters in mind. Scale was the first. For transportation fuels, if you can’t see whether you can scale it up, then you have to question whether you need to be involved at all.”
Algal biofuel – sometimes nicknamed oilgae by environmentalists – is a promising technology, but finding cost-effective ways to mass-produce it has so far eluded researchers.
Experts believe that the benefits of biofuels made from photosynthetic algae are significant. Algae, for example, can be grown using nonarable land and either brackish or salt water unsuitable for crop, plant or food production, unlike first- and second-generation biofuel feedstocks.
It has another benefit that could eventually help cut greenhouse gas emissions that cause global warming: algae need carbon dioxide to grow. Using genomic technologies, including genome engineering, both companies believe they can eventually develop strains of algae that can produce biofuel on a commercial scale while absorbing carbon dioxide emitted, for example, by power plants.
”Algae is the ultimate biological system using sunlight to capture and convert carbon dioxide into fuel,” Dr. Venter said.
Exxon’s investment includes $300 million for in-house studies and ”potentially more” than that to Synthetic Genomics ”if research and development milestones are successfully met,” Exxon said.
The companies referred to their partnership as a long-term research and development effort, with future investments that could rise into the billions of dollars. Large-scale commercial plants are not expected for at least 5 to 10 years, Dr. Jacobs said.
Photosynthetic algae and cyanobacteria, commonly known as blue-green algae, are very efficient at utilizing sunlight energy to convert carbon dioxide into cellular oils, or lipids, and other types of hydrocarbons that can then be processed into fuels and chemicals.
Synthetic Genomics said its scientists had been working for years to develop an efficient way to harvest these oils.
”Traditionally algae have been treated like a crop to be grown and harvested in a process that can be expensive and time consuming,” Dr. Venter said. His company has engineered algae that produce lipids in a continuous process.
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http://www.wbcsd.org/plugins/DocSearch/details.asp?type=DocDet&ObjectId=MzUxMDM
Birch Narrows First Nation signs oilsands MOU
By Cassandra Kyle, The StarPhoenix July 16, 2009
The chief of the Birch Narrows Dene Nation says environmental concerns over resource development are part of the reason he signed a memorandum of understanding on behalf of his community with Oilsands Quest Inc.
Chief Robert Sylvester said Wednesday that maintaining the natural integrity of the Dene Nation’s land is the first priority for the community. Signing an MOU with Oilsands Quest — which is working to develop Saskatchewan’s first commercial oilsands project — will allow the parties to work on a joint environmental plan specific to the community.
“First of all, for Birch Narrows we’ve always looked at the environment as No. 1 and we wanted to see the kind of environment policies Oilsands Quest has,” Sylvester said after signing the MOU in Saskatoon.
Birch Narrows is located about 180 kilometres southwest of the company’s Axe Lake oilsands project, a site Oilsands Quest has been exploring and developing under Saskatchewan’s, and its own, environmental guidelines for the past five years.
In addition to living a traditional lifestyle off the land, members of the Dene Nation, which is located on the south shore of Turnor Lake, offer tourism programs in the area, hosting travellers who want to experience First Nations culture, fish or take a break from city life. However, said Sylvester, tourism at the Birch Narrows lodge has slowed in recent months as the ripples of the economic slowdown hit the tourism industry.
The MOU, which also contains agreements on economic and social development in the community, will likely help Birch Narrows expand its economic base, the chief said.
“We have a lot of training in heavy equipment and truck drivers . . . and the amount of interest that’s there in the training would show the amount of interest for employment in those sectors,” he said.
Christopher Hopkins, president and CEO of Oilsands Quest, said the establishment of an economic agreement with the community expands its mandate to hire people and buy goods and services locally whenever possible.
“We’re good neighbours in behaviour; now this is how we will measure our economic relationship,” he said, adding Birch Narrows is the third closest community to its Axe Lake site after Descharme Lake, the closest, and La Loche, which is about 150 kilometres from the site.
Last summer, Oilsands Quest signed an MOU with La Loche, located more than 600 kilometres northwest of Saskatoon, and its surrounding settlements. Despite economic turmoil in late 2008 and early 2009, Hopkins said the agreement has still created new jobs and new roadways in the area.
“This agreement (with Birch Narrows) is similar in most respects to the agreements signed with other communities in the area, so it’s really a mechanism to provide employment and business opportunities, education and training opportunities and as well address issues of the environment,” Hopkins said.
The company’s president said he would like to see Oilsands Quest sign a similar agreement with the Clearwater River Dene Nation.
Link Water, Energy and Climate in Global Talks, Business Urges
Istanbul, 19 March 2009 – Business leaders from some of the world’s biggest companies today called for water, energy and climate change to be linked in global negotiations, such as the international climate talks due to culminate in Copenhagen in December.
The business leaders were speaking at the launch of a report by the World Business Council for Sustainable Development at the 5th World Water Forum in Istanbul. The forum is expected to produce a ministerial statement calling for proactive policies on water issues.
“Water is everybody’s business. It is used to generate energy, and energy is used to provide water. Climate change will affect the use and availability of both. It is important that we get the policies right,” said Björn Stigson, president of the WBCSD.
“The World Water Forum in Istanbul has done a lot to focus attention on water, energy and climate change. But there is still a significant gap in addressing all three together at a global level. We must link them in the climate negotiations to have any real hope of finding a solution.”
The report, Water, Energy and Climate Change: A contribution from the business community ( 1.8 MB), says water, energy and climate change are inextricably linked.
“Water plays a central role in many of the world’s most pressing issues, among them climate change, energy security and the need to spur economic growth. The time has passed for commitment alone – we must act,” said Steve R. Loranger, CEO of ITT Corporation and co-chair of the WBCSD Water Project.
The paper lists five important policy recommendations from business to climate negotiators and policy-makers. These are:
- Provide reliable climate change risk data, models and analysis tools.
- Integrate water and energy efficiency in measurement tools and policy.
- Bring water issues into the mainstream, and ensure that water authorities and institutions have staff trained to deliver common management practices, education and awareness raising.
- Integrate and value ecosystem services (the benefits that nature provides to society, such as water and forest products) into cross-border decision-making.
- Encourage best practice through innovation, appropriate solutions and community engagement.
It also includes 25 case studies showing how business is already linking water, energy and climate across their operations.
Via: Tales from the Terminal Room
Simmons & Company International is the only independent investment bank specializing in the energy industry. Founded in 1974, the firm has acted as financial advisor in over $134 billion of transactions, including 535 merger and acquisitions worth over $93 billion. As well as copies of presentations made by senior partner Matthew R Simmons there is a collection of industry statistics gathered from a variety of sources. These are split into upstream and downstream and include rig counts, summaries of oil and gas prices, US crude oil inventories, refining capacity and days of supply. There is some International data but much of it is North American biased.
Under the main Energy Industry link are lists of major public listed upstream and downstream companies (coverage is world-wide), and links to industry news sources, associations, statistics and government sites (many are North American).
Despite the geographical bias, this is a good starting point for information on the oil and gas industry as it lists most of the key resources. Matthew Simmons’s presentations and papers are often quoted in the main stream media and are worth monitoring. There is an email alert for new presentations but no RSS. If you are desperate for RSS rather than email there is always the Page2RSS service that monitors pages for changes and alerts you via RSS.
Growing Beyond Oil: Productivity, Performance, and Progress in the Countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council
Published: June 2008
Report, 55 pages
The Conference Board New York
Author(s): Ewout Frankema, Vlad Manole, Andrew Tank, Bart van Ark
This report is part of a major research program on productivity, performance and progress in the Gulf Cooperation Council region which The Conference Board is running in conjunction with Gulf Investment Corporation (GIC).
Document Highlights:
Sluggish productivity and an over-reliance on oil and gas pose a threat to the future economic expansion of the countries in the Gulf region. Such an over-reliance on natural resources is a shaky foundation for long-term economic development and will hold back other sectors of the economy, such as high-productivity manufacturing and financial services. Currently, much of the oil and gas revenues are being spent on low-productivity construction and real estate which give only a superficial impression of affluence.
To achieve sustainable increases in living standards over the long term, the region needs to address both institutional barriers to productivity (that prevent resources flowing to their most productive use) and fix the most critical labor market inefficiencies (to ensure a highly skilled and motivated workforce).
This report is part of a major research program on productivity, performance and progress in the Gulf Cooperation Council region which The Conference Board is running in conjunction with Gulf Investment Corporation (GIC).
The Energy Export Databrowser, created by Jonathan Callahan, a Ph.D. chemist who spent 12 years working for NOAA, is based on BP’s 2007 Statistical Review and provides a quick and easy way to view country data on consumption, import and export of crude oil and natural gas. It covers over 80 countries and data goes back to the 1960s. Users can dynamically plot crude oil import/export curves and rescale the data to get a sense of who the major oil producers and consumers are and how this has changed through time.
There is feedback on the browser itself and an interesting discussion on the accuracy and validity of the underlying data on The Oildrum.
Country Analysis Brief: Canada
Source: Energy Information Administration
Canada has considerable natural resources and is one of the world’s largest producers and exporters of energy. In 2005, Canada produced 19.1 quadrillion British Thermal Units (Btu) of total energy, the fifth-largest amount in the world. Since 1980, Canada’s total energy production has increased by 86 percent, while its total energy consumption has increased by only 48 percent during that period. Almost all of Canada’s energy exports go to the United States, making it the largest foreign source of U.S. energy imports: Canada is consistently among the top sources for U.S. oil imports, and it is the largest source of U.S. natural gas and electricity imports. Recognizing the importance of the energy trade between the two countries, both participate in the North American Energy Working Group, which seeks to improve energy integration and cooperation between Canada, the U.S., and Mexico.
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