Sunday, December 02, 2012

Susan Rice's energy holdings a potential conflict of interest

Rice, looking conflicted.
Picture stolen from PolicyMic.com
Susan Rice, the US ambassador to the UN and a candidate to replace Hillary Clinton as the next secretary of state, may have some financial issues to sort out if that becomes the case.

Basically, it's because she and her husband hold $300 to $600 thousand in TransCanada stocks. TransCanada is of course the company that wants to build the Keystone XL Pipeline to carry oilsands crude to the gulf coast. She also apparently holds $1.25 to $1.5 million in Imperial Oil stocks, as well as shares in Suncor, Cenovus and CNRL, all of which would probably benefit from approval of the pipeline.

Athabasca Oil Corp. Sanctions Hangingstone Project

Athabasca's properties. Note Grossmont is carbonate,
which means it may not be developed for a long time.
Athabasca Oil Corp. (AOC) announced it had internally sanctioned the first 12,000 barrel per day phase of its Hangingstone project. It had received government approval for the phase on October 3rd. First steam is expected in late 2014, and first production in early 2015.

Although the deal is not final, it will apparently proceed as a 50/50 venture with Kuwait Petroleum, as hinted at in September. AOC estimates it will cost $536 million.