Chavez dead, bad news for the oilsands?

Well in case you missed it, Hugo Chavez died last week. A lot of people are happy to see him go, but maybe Canada's oil industry shouldn't be among them. Under his term as president (1999 - 2013) Venezuela's oil production fell from about 3.5 million barrels per day to about 2.5 million barrels per day. This neglect was one of the reasons Canada's oilsands industry grew so quickly over the same period: US imports from Venezuela fell from a height of 1.4 million bbl/d in 1997 to 868 thousand bbl/d in 2011. Canadian exports to the US grew from 1.2 million bbl/d to 2.2 million bbl/d over the same period. The Financial Post has an article on the possible consequences for Canada.

NDP about-face on oilsands?

Picture of Mulclair cowboying up.
From the article. No news yet  on
whether or not he's expecting.

Maclean's has an interesting story about an apparent reversal in the NDP on the oilsands. Thomas Mulclair, the party's leader, has recently been in Calgary making pretty positive noises at a bunch of oil people. They would now be "a partner for the development of Canada's energy resources", apparently.

This is of course a big change from the party's position in the past, where he blamed the oilsands for eastern Canada's economic woes as well as the standard environmental criticism.

Liberals seek middle ground on oil sands

Rae during obligatory helicopter tour. Picture from
National Post article.

Bob Rae, the leader of the federal Liberals, has recently visited Fort McMurray and said that Canadians need to better understand how important oil sands development is to the country,  but that that development needs to be properly regulated by both federal and provincial governments.

He has also weighed in on the Highway 63 issue, saying that federal money should be available to help twin the road. 

Ric McIver says oil companies should pay to twin Highway 63

Ric McIver, former mayoral candidate and alderman and current MLA and Minster of Transport, says he would welcome oil sands companies chipping in to twin Highway 63 from Edmonton to Fort McMurray, sometimes referred to as the highway of death. I think it's good of McIver to remind everyone why it was such a terrific idea not to elect him as mayor.

Election Results!

The PCs defied earlier polling by taking home a strong majority in yesterday's election - they won 61 of the 87 seats. Their leader, Allison Redford, remains the Premier. The Wildrose party took 17 seats, the Liberals 5, the NDP 4.

As I mentioned on Sunday, I think this is good news for the oil sands. Redford has stressed cooperation with other provinces and the federal government, as summarized in this Financial Post article, as well as the importance of environmental programs and better educating the US and Europe on the impacts of the industry.

Summary: Albertan party positions on oil sands

The Albertan provincial election is tomorrow, April 23. One of the issues the four parties are quite different on is proposed policy for oil sand development. Find a summary of these positions and my opinion after the break.

EU delays oil sand labelling vote

The EU has announced it will wait until after a detailed study to have member nations vote on whether to support their "Fuel Quality Directive". This means a vote is not expected until early 2013. Canada has lobbied against the directive because it labels Canadian oil sands as highly carbon emitting.