More in the news than ever

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It is an exciting time for our industry in Quebec.  So much so it was commented to me that oil and gas is more in Quebec news now than in 2010, the height of the protests.  The theme of this year’s oil and gas conference The Way Forward – 2016 is well timed.

It isn’t protestors in the news this time.  Or at least it’s not just the protestors.  The handful of people who chained themselves to the fence at the Suncor refinery to protest oil transportation did get attention.  As did the news that TCPL has been delayed over concerns their geotechnical work might disturb Beluga whales.  But generally there has been little interest in calls for public protest.

Potential impacts of the new carbon exchange attract attention. So does drilling going on for oil on Anticosti and in Gaspé.

Public hearings on Canada’s most comprehensive environmental study on natural gas and fracking have received only a little press presumably because it wasn’t really news that the study said it was safe. Most interesting is media about how oil and gas is impacting business and the economy.

The Suncor and Ultramar (now Valero) refineries and their unions need less expensive western Canadian oil to remain open.  The alternative of importing diesel, gasoline, asphalt and other products from Ontario or the United States is less environmentally friendly and would make Quebec industry less competitive.  Yet like Energy East, line 9b was just delayed again.

The Plan Nord to revitalize the resource sector is back on the table in a big way with the election of the ‘Quebec is Open for Business’ Liberal government.

Guess what?  The Plan Nord needs energy and lots of it.  Natural gas is the obvious solution and (almost) everyone agrees it’s cleaner and cheaper than fuel oil or diesel; but how to get it?

Wait a minute! – How did Quebec become an island of shortage in North America’s ocean of natural gas?

What are the solutions to Quebec’s newly realized strategic weakness related to an ‘all it’s eggs in one basket’ approach to energy supply?

Could Quebec become an oil producer?  Will it ever allow its natural gas to be produced?

What are the real community, economic and environmental impacts?

Hear answers from the producers.  Be at the Quebec Oil and Gas Conference in Montreal on November 3rd. Details at www.apgq-qoga.com