Energy: good or evil?
Many people would like to have a debate about whether energy is good or evil and whether some energy is more evil than others. Some are having protests to encourage others to join this debate. I think it is the wrong debate on the wrong question. At Questerre we agree that natural gas should be […]
I AM SHOCKED
Was I really shocked when I heard Josh Fox, the director of Gasland, say he knew about 1936 reports of people lighting their water taps on fire but it wasn’t relevant to his film? Maybe pleasantly surprised catches it better; not surprised he knew but surprised he admitted it on camera. For reasons explained below […]
The 100 mile energy diet
Environmentalists have explained that the 100 mile diet of local eating can create global change. They say It could change the world. 100milediet.org/faqs. This is a diet based on only eating foods that have been grown locally. Among the advantages of the 100 mile diet are: you know and can trust how it was produced […]
SEA explained to investors
I recently spoke to our investors in Norway about the SEA and the current situation for our industry in Quebec. At the time, Questerre’s concept of finding commercial natural gas in Quebec challenged all conventional wisdom in the Canadian oil and gas industry. As a result, we were not initially successful finding capital in Calgary, […]
What’s in it for opponents?
I was bemused to see my suspicions confirmed in writing that the giant Russian natural gas producer, Gazprom [see Poland ahead of itself], would prove to be a major opponent to natural gas from shale. The President of Gazprom is recently quoted in the mainstream press about production of natural gas from shale and its […]
Youthful Mindfulness
A 15 year old wrote a letter that was published in Le Devoir on April 21, 2011. I was impressed that a young person would take the time and effort to communicate their concerns over an issue like shale gas. Here is the letter I wrote to Laurence in response: Dear Laurence: I think your […]
Quiet revolution echo?
Everyone agrees that Quebecers made a statement in the Canadian Federal election. There is less agreement about what the statement means. As a President of a natural gas company in Quebec I have noticed that Quebecers don’t like being told what’s good for them. This is not unique to Quebec. No one likes being […]
About those “experts”
Recently someone criticized me in front of a room of 400 people for poking fun at certain self-described “experts”. It was a fair point so this blog will try to be serious. I didn’t poke fun because of their lack of expertise in oil and gas since there has only been a very small oil […]
Quebec land values
Our shareholders can take heart that some observers think the Utica natural gas discovery is so good it was worth $500 per hectare years ago. Or as I heard at the Réseau Liberté Québec conference in Montreal last weekend, as high as $28,000 per acre. Remember, this was before there was even a gas discovery! […]
Clean coal believers
Naively, I originally believed that green energy proponents would welcome shale gas as an ally in replacing coal. It turns out that green energy proponents and the American coal lobby are both against competition from natural gas that is cheaper and cleaner than coal. As a result the theory that ‘an enemy of my enemy […]