Industry is Also Against Expropriation
Our industry does not want to work in communities or on farms where the people do not want us. The success of our business depends entirely on the goodwill of the people who live in the areas we work. Expropriation should evoke strong emotions. Fundamental to our prosperity as a society is security that […]
Why not write a blog?
Six years ago, I wrote my first blog entitled ‘Why write a blog?’ (http://questerrestage.wpengine.com/mike-blog/2011/01/05/why-write-a-blog/) wherein I mostly wrote about the reasons not to write a blog. That was the day I jumped into the deep end of the silliness and seriousness of the hydrocarbon debate. In those days, saying in Quebec you thought fracking was […]
Green book to change the red light
People who know me, know it’s not my inclination to gratuitously praise Government. However, the Quebec Government is taking some much needed leadership on social license and praise is due. Our Utica natural gas discovery erupted the hydrocarbon debate in Quebec in 2010. Since then a series of high profile Canadian energy projects bumbled up, […]
Greatly exaggerated
One of Mark Twain’s famous quotes is “the reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated”. We could say that the reports of Questerre exiting Quebec are also greatly exaggerated. So what if auditors and regulators based in Calgary opine that that the risks for the energy business in Quebec are higher than ever. Their […]
A 140 page long tweet
A self appointed, self named, ad hoc collective has published an update to an old report. Their hypothesis is that regulations in Quebec are so poor that they are “a way to sacrifice fresh water for a few drops of oil”. It reads like a one-sided twitter debate complete with links to media articles. As […]
This is Worse Than the NEP
If history doesn’t so much repeat itself as it rhymes, then Canadian energy in 2015 is a rhyming couplet for energy in 1980. Pierre Trudeau’s 1980 National Energy Policy forced the West to sell its natural resources to the rest of Canada at below market prices. The result was a massive transfer from one part […]
Back to the Future in Quebec
In the past five years there have been many moments and reasons to give up on oil and gas development in Quebec. The returns of the 2015 annual oil and gas conference are in, and they show that the future of oil and gas in Quebec is very well alive. We might say we have […]
Where Producers and Consumers Meet
Would it surprise you that there is only one oil and gas conference in the country that covers the entire value chain ‘from well head to burner tip’? There are a lot of energy conferences, but all too often they end up being industry talking to itself. The Quebec Oil and Gas Association conference […]
Stop Carbon Leaks
Leaks have become a big issue in the oil and gas industry. Methane leaks at wells and transportation systems were it. Then the EPA confirmed they aren’t as big as opponents claimed. Now it’s about oil leaks from pipelines and tankers. Industry is responding to these issues by trying to set the record straight on […]
This is no way to run an energy superpower
In the Globe and Mail Wednesday July 22, 2015 were several articles about the oil and gas industry. Food banks in Alberta are running out of food in small towns. Companies can’t sell their natural gas because pipeline capacity is too small. There are record vacancies in Calgary office buildings. The Oil Patch is uneasy […]