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Ruling gives Crown stronger shield against lawsuits
JUSTICE REPORTER
Second worker let go over Flames furor
A second Alberta health-care worker has been fired for allowing 150 people connected with the Calgary Flames hockey team to jump the queue and receive H1N1 vaccinations at a special clinic last week.
Gas producer warns of rising toll 'death spiral'
Canadian Natural Resources president says a steep increase in pipeline costs would curb production - and lead to even higher tolls
FROM $2-MILLION TO $12-MILLION
Alberta says Peter Pocklington must pay back a loan plus interest. The former Oilers owner disagrees
Alberta in an uproar over Flames' special treatment
Political scandal brewing after Calgary players and family members given special H1N1 vaccinations
New technology could revolutionize the black box
Calgary firm's data-streaming system would enhance safety. But what's really caught the airlines' attention is the cost-saving properties
Faceoff coming over Syncrude stake?
awillis@globeandmail.com
Long Lake production target put on hold
To the very long list of Long Lake's woes, add this one: Its owners no longer know when it will reach full production. Through the years of operational problems and resulting delays that have plagued the $6.1-billion oil sands project, Nexen Inc. and OPTI Canada Ltd. have maintained target dates for achieving its designed throughput. At one point, that date was late 2009. Then, late 2010. Yesterday, the market winced when OPTI chief executive officer Chris Slubicki said it won't meet that deadline - and declined to provide a new one. "Many of our operational issues are behind us," he told analysts. "We are expecting through 2010 vastly increasing bitumen and [premium sweet crude] production and that's what's important to us. When that will lead to at or near exactly full capacity is difficult to forecast." For OPTI's long-suffering investors, it was the latest blow to confidence in the project. NXY (TSX) fell 59 cents to $23.40; OPC (TSX) slipped 26 cents to $2.19.
Syncrude stake on the block
ConocoPhillips selling asset to reduce debt
U.S. refiners may shun oil sands costs
GLOBAL ENERGY REPORTER
Alberta Theatre Projects announces modest surplus
Alberta Theatre Projects is celebrating a decade of surpluses. The Calgary theatre company announced its 10th consecutive surplus - $2,532 - at its annual general meeting this week.
Potash Corp.: It's all about a takeover
awillis@globeandmail.com
Saskatoon group challenges Regina to vote-off in hopes of curbing low turnout
With a professional football player running for civic office in Roughriders-mad Regina, it would seem the fundamentals at least are in place for an exciting political race.
Alberta's rat patrol stands on guard for thee
Over 60 years, the province's anti-rodent campaign has captured the hearts, minds and shovels of its citizens. The war has pretty well been won
Planning for Copenhagen
So the Conservative government is working on an environmental plan "that would impose a cap on industrial emissions, but allow Alberta's energy-intensive, emissions-heavy oil sands to continue expanding" (Ottawa Dashes Hope For Treaty In Copenhagen - Oct. 23). Presumably the rest of us would be expected to pick up the slack.
Right flanking movement
There are predictions of a political chinook in Alberta that some observers, particularly those on the right, say could blow the ruling Progressive Conservatives right out of office. But Premier Ed Stelmach could yet make it a case of wishful thinking on the part of a clique of conservatives, largely from Calgary.
Alberta delays oil sands upgrader plans
First, the biggest players in Alberta's oil patch decided they would rather refine their oil sands bitumen in the United States than Canada. Now even the Alberta government is allowing more time for Canadian oil to be processed in the U.S. The province collects much of its oil sands royalties as "in-kind" - in other words, it gets physical bitumen - and has long planned to upgrade, or refine, that bitumen in Alberta. Yesterday, however, the province delayed plans for an upgrader by two years, in a new request for proposals that gives would-be upgrader builders until Dec. 31, 2018, to begin refining bitumen. The demand for Canadian bitumen in the U.S. has driven up prices for the product, leaving it tough to make money on upgrading in Canada. Officially, however, the province says the two-year delay is "so that a new project just starting the approval process can better meet the time requirement." The province will also now allow the winning proposal to use multiple phases to achieve up to 75,000 barrels per day in upgrading capacity upgrader, provided they're all running by 2018.
Edmonton = excellence
The city has become a world leader in waste management
U.S. lobby group defends Alberta's oil sands
As climate change fight heats up, American Petroleum Institute argues that benefits of development will flow to both sides of border
Secret complaint could bankrupt Manitoba Hydro
Whistleblower's report subject of intense speculation
