Natural gas is a pillar in Canada’s energy resources landscape. Industry reports (IBISWorld) indicate that the oil and gas industries (e.g., gas extraction, gas field services, natural gas distribution) in Canada are expected to generate revenues of over $56.4bn in 2015. The Canadian Energy Research Institute projects Western Canada’s natural gas sector to add $2.3tn to Canada’s GDP between 2015 and 2035. While, sales are projected to generate $1.4tn in sales and $400bn in taxes, as well as attract over $450bn in capital investments over the next 20 years. Currently, it is estimated that shale gas contributes to 15% of Canada’s natural gas production and is growing. The National Energy Board estimates this to be 28% by 2035.
Economic benefits of the natural gas industry are intimately tied to the market price of natural gas – which historically, has demonstrated high volatility. Recently the price for oil and gas has plummeted. While natural gas supplies steadily accumulated in the US, Canada’s main export market, decreasing revenue and profits. This has resulted in consolidation of oil and gas companies, loss in jobs, and delay/cancelling of new projects (e.g., LNG projects on BC’s coast). Given this financial context, the Canadian gas industry needs to streamline their operations (i.e., increase efficiency and productivity) and explore alternative markets by, perhaps, moving methane up the value chain and creating value-added products (i.e., petrochemicals).
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Natural gas is the transitional fuel that is cleaner than coal and oil that has been experiencing a boom in the United States for the last few decades. Natural gas is most familiar to us in the form of heating and cooking on gas ranges. It is abundantly available and modern technology has made it much more accessible and cheaper than other energy sources. Hydraulic fracturing, known short as fracking, is the combination of technology with water and chemicals, and high pressure, that breaks through shale rocks to capture energy. The Climate One podcast titled “ Fracking Boom,”explains America’s recent obsession with fracking, surrounding its history, economic stimulus, construction, and community opposition among other issues. Presenting the talk were Russell Gold, author of The Boom: How Fracking Ignited American Energy Revolution and Changed the World, Mark Zoback, professor of Geophysics at Stanford University, and Trevor Houser, co-author of Fueling Up: The Economic Implications of America’s Oil and Gas Boom. The three guest speakers shared their expertise on how the fracking boom can power America’s economy, but can only be successful if the process in making the wells for fracking, are done along guidelines within the regulations.
World needs energy and Alberta need the oil sands to strengthen the economy. When considering Canada, especially Alberta has been in the oil market, bringing heaps of economic benefits to the country. Besides, energy has turned out to be one of the essential and basic needs, mandatory for the economic progress of a nation. Depending on consumption of the main energy sources, oil is used in a percentage of around 38%, gas is around 21% and also, coal is around 28%. As the developing countries and developed world continue to grow rapidly, many obstacles arise from our dependence on these burnable energies. The availability and consumption of energy resources need to be related to the costs of the global economy and as well as to the ecological impacts. Mainly, the environmental risks associated with energy consumption are related to oil abstraction and their discharge related problems. In addition, these natural resources like coal, oil and gases generate difficulties in both ways, while extracting as well in their use. Besides, the other main problem is the supply of these fuels from other countries and they highly rely on transportation methods or pipe lines which could cause massive destruction to our nature. And at the same time, many arguments take place in regard to the damage cause by these oil sands. Yet, there are no primary energy origins which are free of economic or
Modern day Canada is posed with the current issues of energy and the environment becoming increasingly important within the public and political sectors. The impetus has come from a variety of factors such as the collective development of nonconventional resources, the environmental concern from Canadians, and the demand for renewable energy sources. Many premiers have since called for a ‘national energy strategy’ however the clashes of policies on the federal and provincial levels cause a decrease in progress. This has become largely apparent in the current debates over Alberta’s bitumen deposits and pipelines. The Alberta government has advocated for a ‘national energy strategy’ led by Ottawa placing their political emphasis on the need for Canada to achieve a vision of environmental supremacy. This paper seeks to investigate the clashes of interprovincial trade and commerce powers with the provinces natural resource power debates over Alberta’s pipelines and bitumen deposits in conjunction with the general Canadians feeling of a lack of democracy.
Development of infrastructure and market for natural gas, a product of hydraulic fracking, has blossomed in recent years. Interestingly though, hydraulic fracturing, a process that’s been around since the early 1900s, has recently become a topic of significant controversy, especially through the expansion of large reservoirs throughout the United States, including the Barnett Shale, the Marcellus, and the Bakken. However, the unsustainable nature of hydraulic fracking demands that US attention be focused on expanding renewable infrastructure and bolstering actual sustainable development; hydraulic fracking is an economic distraction fueled by big business, and the benefits are grossly temporary. Simply stated, investment and expansion of the natural gas industry in the United States is a short-term solution to a long-term problem. First, the paper will provide an outline of exactly why investment and development of hydraulic fracturing in the US is not sustainable. This will be accomplished by looking at the economics of natural gas fracturing, as well as the environmental effects and the public health impacts. Then further evaluation will provide insight on the practicality and necessity of national investment in renewable infrastructure to catalyze the nation into a global future.
This publication from the Government of Alberta’s Department of Energy tries to focus on an all-around view of the oil sands. It talks about what they are, how they work, and environmental problems and solutions. The publication is not nearly as current as some other sources, it was published late 2008. It is free from bias but tries to stay overly optimistic, something is a “challenge” not an environmental concern. Since it is a government source it is mostly objective but does try to keep the oil sands in a positive view, possibly to benefit our economy. The publication is factual, accurate, and has a limited bias
Diverse and multi-faceted, the Canadian business market is one of the strongest functioning mixed market economies in the world. Within the Canadian economy, the oil and gas sector stands as one of the largest and most influential sectors. The oil and gas industry is unique as it affects almost every person and sector of the economy worldwide, whether it is through commodity or material input costs. In Canada, this growing industry could allow for the country to be the one of the “biggest energy producers in the world” leading to a massive paradigm shift globally.
The neo-liberal idea that oil and gas are primary sources of revenues for the country are very out dated. This is something that needs to be addressed if we want to sustain our economy and our environment. Without a stable environment, how could we possibly have a good economy, don’t they go hand in hand? Since the industrial revolution, our economy has increased significantly, however, it has a tremendous impact on our environment. Today, we can easily see the destruction of our environment take place all over the world, thus moving towards sustainable and renewable energies isn’t as far-fetched as it once was. The political ideologies of revenues through natural resource is strong, but the people are not realizing that this is not the only way to generate revenues within a province. Some provinces have said no we do not want pipelines or no we do not want fracking, but this is at a cost of getting the blame of not following the “Canadian Dream”. By that I mean, following the greedy corporate world in destroying the planet at the cost of becoming a wealthy province to satisfy the Canadian government, and be less reliant on government subsidies. Starr fails to mention the initiatives that the Nova Scotia provincial government has been leaning toward sustainable energies, such
What would you do if you found yourself in a violent situation? Someone tries to fight you when you’re on the subway on your daily commute to work? Would you try to run away, or call the police? Now what if it’s someone you love, and you can’t run away because it was your fault anyway and they need you. This is how 1 in 4 American men feel. The Stigma against men talking about domestic abuse is harmful and often makes men feel that they can’t talk about it due to the hyper-masculinity in our media
The issue of Donald Trump versus Hilary Clinton is an issue of facing two evils but having to choose a lesser evil. In reality though, Donald Trump would be a better president as compared to Hilary Clinton. He is a straight forward candidate, rich, older, and some may view him as being even wiser. He fits in well with the American system of big money politics since he is a popular billionaire who flies around in his helicopter without hiding his wealth and voters in recent past have said that they love nature of telling it how it is and they also respect his ballsy nature. This is in direct contrast with his opponent Hilary Clinton, who is good at hiding her wealth, riches, and beliefs. The Clinton’s are estimated to have a fortune in excess of 100 million dollars and some people like to portray Hilary as a liberal hope, including a number of activists and academics titled “feminists for Clinton” but reality is that "she is a significantly dangerous white feminist woman"
Shale gas largely consists of methane – a gas which is 25 times as potent at carbon dioxide in terms of heat capturing capacity. Also, at least 3% of this gas gets released to the atmosphere even in the most efficient processes. While this fact poses a number of challenges to other businesses, including; supply chain disruptions, damage to infrastructure, increasing insurance premiums and rising transportation and health care costs; to your business, it means increased legal exposure on account of recently accepted UNFCCC.
Jeff Goodell, a leading staff writer on energy and environmental issues for Rolling Stone magazine once stated, “Nobody disputes that cheap natural gas would be a good thing for the economy. The question is, is this a sustainable new development that can be counted on for decades to come, or simply a 'bubble ' brought on by a land grab and drilling frenzy?” (“Jeff Goodell Quote”, 2013). Goodell states the undeniable truth about natural gas. This is that the federal government regulating the fracking industry will exponentially increase the United States economy by making the United States a global counterpart in the worldwide market for oil. However, Goodell also highlights the negative effects of fracking and natural gas. This is the
“There is a sacredness in tears. They are not the mark of weakness, but of power. They are messengers of overwhelming grief and unspeakable love,” (Washington Irving). Criminal Minds and NCIS are both shows that involve criminal actions being solved by special teams. The shows both involve only murderous crimes such as cases involving serial killers. NCIS works with cases that involve the armed forces whether they are serving or if they are a veteran. Criminal Minds deals with cases that can involve normal citizens or citizens that are in the armed forces.
This research topic focuses on the rise of Canadian oil production and how Canada’s economy has reacted to this rise. Canada is in a very unique position in terms of oil production. Within Alberta, Canada has had an abundance of oil that it could produce. However, oil prices used to be a lot lower than what they have risen to in recent time. With these low oil prices, no one could justify producing the oil within the Alberta. This is due to the issue that the oil located in Alberta is mostly from oil sands (Facts about Alberta’s, n.d.). These result in oil that is mixed with oil, clay, water, etc. Therefore, due to the nature of the oil sands, to extract the oil it is much more expensive than oil that is not from oil sands
Canada has the potential to be a “sustainable energy superpower” due to the vast amount of resources it contains. It has a large landmass and diversified geography which can be used to produce renewable energy from such resources; watermill, wind, biomass, solar, geothermal, and ocean energy. Renewable energy is energy obtained from natural resources that are able to be naturally replenished within a human lifespan (Natural Resource Canada, 2014). Currently, fossil fuel burning is the major source of energy in Canada and although it can be re-used, the process is so long that it is considered to be non-renewable. Also, fossil fuel burning for coal, natural gas, and petroleum gas pollutes the environment with greenhouse gases on a large scale, causing global warming. Non-renewable energy is taken from sources that re available on Earth in limited quantity, likely vanishing within fifty to sixty years from today (Conserve Energy Future, 2014). Thus, it is important for Canada to invest their money on resorting to more environmentally friendly and renewable ways to make electricity. Being a developed country, Canada has the financial stability to purchase the technologies over time in order to produce renewable energy. In addition, many organizations and the government have taken a step to educate the society about issues regarding energy usage, and to create programs which conserve energy for the future. In the future generations, Canada will be able to generate sufficient
The importance of natural gas is to replace the role of oil in the economy. Natural gas is good for the US because it can produce natural gas domestically. It has plenty of energy for use in people’s homes and in industry. It will help the US economy cope with the depletion of peak oil production. Crude oil is nearly three times as expensive as Natural gas. (Pipeline, 2009-2013)