Energi Notes

Barring China from US markets will have significant unintended consequences Will Donald Trump derail the global energy transition? Probably not, because China is now driving the transition, not the US. But, as leader of the [Read more]

Which position is “anti-oil”? Defending the Alberta status quo, which could lead to industry-wide failure, or advocating for a pivot to non-combustion uses, which could extend a cleaned-up industry’s life into the 21st century? Yesterday [Read more]

“The future is already here, it just hasn’t arrived in Alberta yet” – my apologies to cyberpunk writer William Gibson My bastardization of Gibson’s quote is inspired by the University of Alberta’s energy transition online [Read more]

Even under the IEA’s optimistic STEPS scenario, everything has to break just right for Canadian LNG to be successful Canadian media (news and social) is full of analysts pimping for more LNG (liquified natural gas) [Read more]

In the end, it may be voters laying awake, staring at the ceiling, wondering how the oil industry’s bills will be paid Business owners are asked all the time how they intend to repay a [Read more]

Canada is the land of energy incumbents. Incumbents impede change to protect their own self-interests, a poor strategy in the midst of a global energy transition Spencer Dale warns that transitioning too slowly to clean [Read more]

Markham: Welcome to episode 317 of the Energy Talks podcast. I’m energy and climate journalist, Markham Hislop. Prior to Danielle Smith becoming Alberta premier in 2022, I called her an authoritarian populist. In her first [Read more]

Obsidian Energy should negotiate an agreement with Woodland Cree First Nation because it won’t win this fight Bill Hatton was a Vietnam vet, 300 pounds of menace, and an imposing figure around the board table. [Read more]

If there was one “intellectual” who most muddied Canadian thinking about the future of energy, it was Murphy On Tuesday, President Joe Biden will raise import tariffs on China’s electric vehicles by 400 per cent, [Read more]

OPEC economists get it wrong not once, but twice by seriously underestimating China A key assumption of the OPEC oil and gas narrative, which is the de facto Alberta narrative, is being blown to smithereens [Read more]

“Renewables generated a record 30% of global electricity in 2023, driven by growth in solar and wind.” – Global Electricity Review 2024, Ember My first tattoo, if my wife ever permits it, will read, “electricity [Read more]

“Reports of the demise of electric vehicles have been greatly exaggerated” – S&P Global Mobility Electric vehicle (EV) sales are growing, not slowing, according to a new report from the International Energy Agency (IEA). But [Read more]

New AER board appointments reflect Danielle Smith’s “slow energy transition” mentality This Note was supposed to be about Dave Yager, Premier Danielle Smith’s old pal, the one she recently appointed to the Alberta Energy Regulator’s [Read more]

Alberta exceptionalism won’t protect epicentre of Canadian oil/gas from energy system change Two weeks ago, the Americans declared war on carbon as part of their efforts to rewrite global trading rules. The announcement was delivered [Read more]

The Alberta Energy Regulator in its present form cannot be saved A new coalition is calling for reform of the Alberta Energy Regulator (AER). As the Unethical Oil investigative series revealed, the AER is so [Read more]

Jean and Schulz aren’t the varsity team, Guilbeault is the wrong minister…something has to give How would you resolve this dilemma? Canada, like most countries, has signed international agreements to reduce greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs). [Read more]

Alberta, Saskatchewan emit 48% of Canada’s emissions. Why not punish the bad actors? It’s deja vu all over again. After disrupting (destroying?) Canadian public health with relentless campaigns against vaccines and masks, the freedom crowd [Read more]

“The clean energy transition may well accelerate even further through stronger climate policies.” – Dr. Fatih Birol, executive director, International Energy Agency (IEA) As I write this, COP28 delegations are frantically negotiating the text of [Read more]

Alberta oil/gas leadership has fooled itself into thinking the energy transition will be slow Another oil executive lurched into my inbox the other day. He sneered at my “woke journalism” and dismissed the energy transition [Read more]

Will OPEC’s “slow energy transition” assumptions about weakening climate policies hold at COP28? Much has been made of Danielle Smith heading to COP28, which starts in Dubai today, to promote investments in Alberta’s oil and [Read more]