We Are Such Dinosaurs

North Americans are consuming and ruining the planet and the sad thing is, we don't realize how backward we are.
Europe is so far advanced on many fronts --- food production, wind and solar energy, environmental protection.
Why do we elect such cavemen and cavewomen?

BC Govt's Future Cash Cow

Fracking in the shale/tight gas plays in NE BC is undertaken between 1 to 2 km below the surface - "deep fracking", so to speak compared to the relatively low water table.

Nexen's president has publicly stated that the Horn River basin contains more natural gas than all of Alberta. That doesn't even include the large Montney basin and Liard basin.

All are still in their infancy in terms of production. By the end of this decade, BC will surpass Alberta in natural gas production, which is a relatively clean burning fuel. And natural gas royalty revenue was the bread and butter of Alberta's petro wealth over the past decade.

While natural gas is still currently priced low at between $3 - $4/MMBtu in the North American market, the price of natural gas is tied to oil in Asia at between $12 - $14/MMBtu.

The Kitimat LNG plant is moving forward, a 2nd northwest lng plant is on the drawing board, and Shell is looking at a 3rd lng plant in BC's northwest.

South Africa's Sasol has invested $2 billion in a field in the Montney basin, Petro-China has invested $billions$ in a NE BC ng co-venture. Spanish Gas and Mitsubishi have also invested/entered into long-term lng contracts.

Just this week Tokyo Gas, Osaka Gas, Chubu Electric and JOGMEC all joining Mitsubishi in their Horn River shale joint venture with Penn West Energy.

Last year ~$7 billion was invested in NE BC shale gas exploration/infrastructure.

By the end of this decade, natural gas royalty revenue will make BC a very wealthy province - almost on par with Alberta.

And with that future cash-flow into the provincial treasury the government will be able to do the things that people always clamour about.

Whoever kills that goose that lays the golden egg should be politically hung out to dry IMHO.

The French are so much more civilized

The French are so much more civilized than we are apparently - the golden goose - if it is asbestos or fracking ought to have its neck wrung..

http://tinyurl.com/6gsnf2c

Easy for you to say Cool Hand

What do you or the Liberal Government care about what happens up north? As long as you can suck the money out of here, you and the government are happy. We will have to send a few pictures over to the environmental groups in France. The farming communities around Dawson Creek and Ft. St. John look like wasteland with a drilling rig on every corner, not to mention the gas processing plants etc. The north has a small population so there are few people to stand up to what is happening. The OGC is a joke. There are local residents that have made hundreds of complaints to the OCG and nothing is ever done. People up here are not trying to STOP the industry, Cool Hand. Let me repeat that .... people up here are not trying to STOP the industry but would like the government and industry to self regulate enough to protect the environment and the people who live here. Sadly the government and oil/gas companies only care about money.If the Peace country is being destroyed I shudder to think what is happening in the Horn River basin where there are no environmental groups at all to protect it.

Jacksonupnorth

That's been part of life in that neck of the woods for ~60 years. Nobody has complained much during the interim AFAIK. And those communities have dealt with conventional natural gas (and to a much lesser extent, oil) drilling/production during that time frame.

And the unconventional Montney basin now also covers that neck of the woods. Not the Horn River basin. So what's the diff?

As for environmental controls, Ridgeline Energy Services Inc., for example, provides on-site services for the treatment, reuse, and recycling of produced and flowback waste water in gas well fracturing and flowback water from operations in N.E. B.C.

The same apparent enviro bias, from the same crowd, is also held against the Site C dam. What about the the Site A (Bennett Dam) and Site B (Peace Canyon Dam)?

Perhaps we should decommission both of those existing dams? The BC NDP calls them BC Hydro's "legacies".

Since everything on this site seems to be political, why doesn't the NDP support the decommissioning of the Bennett/Peace Canyon Dams?

Because it would be political suicide. That's why.

Former NDP premier Dan Miller provided three separate tax credits to enhance the drilling of natural gas in your neck of the woods. Miller is BC's version of Manitoba's centrist and politically successful Gary Doer.

Even Manitoba's NDP government is quiet on natural gas fracking in their province. Why is that? Check this site out:

http://frackingcanada.blogspot.com/2011/05/all-in-days-work-so-where-is-manitoba.html

Why don't all New Democrats in Canada go to Manitoba and demand that ng/oil drilling/facking stop?

Because it would both embarrass and destroy the Manitoba government's revenues/credibility. That's why!

FWIW, NE BC natural gas reserves with current North American pricing at ~$3/MMBtu, have a value beginning at $750 billion.

I tell you what Jacksonupnorth. Take your concerns to the BC NDP - FORCEFULLY. MAKE the BC NDP change their party platform to BAN all fracking in NE BC and shut down All activity in the Montney/Horn River basins.

I would love to see that - the BC NDP would then be committing political suicide.

Why doesn't the BC NDP embrace that platform?

Anyone?????

BTW, I'm still hearing crickets.

Regretfully

Coleman's full of shit. Wastewater fracking returns in deep formations are all over North America and lose up to 80% of the water and chemicals used into the bedding. And where fracking has contaminated upper-end groundwater supplies, that has been traced to faulty drilling procedures, cementing procedures, or faulty equipment and pipe. There are dozens of recorded cases, though the jury's definitely out on the trasnmigration of deep wastewater injection into surface water sources, simply because nobody's done a study. However, all responsible gas drillers are now doing pre-drilling water sampling to "prove" they're not affecting groundwater supplies - and in some cases, they're finding out that they are indeed affecting those same supplies. That's how Wiebo Ludwig was able to take on Encana recently, and Gwyn Morgan found himself apologizing for his company's actions.

Look for yourself. An excellent and even-handed report.

http://www.scribd.com/doc/34109245/TPH-Report-on-Fracing

That is not the sound of crickets

It's the sound of dry rot.

The kind of dry rot that happens when you know the price of everything and the value of nothing.

I suggest a light lunch with a glass of vin ordinare, a fresh pear and a bit of decent cheese the next time you're in Paris...

It might help you understand there are things which have far more value than those golden eggs...or you could have an omelette - which you'll find very hard to create with golden eggs.

cool hand

Hey, you're on top of the figures. Must have some good connections. But why is it that with the oil and gas industries going great guns, the province is broke? Oh, that's right, all the money "invested" goes elsewhere. And a good thing that it's all taking place up north where the population density is low, so when the shit hits the fan (and it will), then only a handful will be adversely affected. Interesting thing about all the wealth created by oil/gas and coal, etc. is that the externalities are never factored in. You know, the REAL costs. And to mention shutting down the 2 Peace dams (for political reasons of course) is just a plainly stupid idea. These are used when intelligent arguments won't do. And yes, I, like most of the people in the Peace region am opposed to the Site C dam. Damn right I am! And whatever happened to the idea (easily done and cheap too!) of conservation? You know, using less. And using what you have in smarter ways. And not to forget that little issue of global warming. The status quo is so easy when you're devoid of intelligent, progressive ideas.

BTW, I'm still hearing crickets.

Cool hand -- that was a masterful job and full of unassailable detail. Note that no one on this site has even tried to assail it -- because they can't. They just resort to the same worn out ideological blather about corporate conspiracies and (as ODB tried) arguing that all the money "invested" goes elsewhere.

I'm not going to bother hitting the provinces books to add up all the gas royalties paid into the treasury in the last ten years -- in the many billions and still counting -- because most of these guys don't believe it anyway, even when it's laid out in black and white in audited statements. Just more conspiracy I guess.

What they also can't fathom (mostly because they just don't want to), is what would happen to this province if they got their "wish list" of projects formally rejected. No more mines, no more gas drilling, no more old growth logging, no more pipelines -- no more nuthin.' End result -- no more problems with First Nations land claims because they'd be the only ones left here.

And you're right -- the NDP will never take these causes on if they form the government because they might be left of centre, but they're not stupid.

blackie

Hit the books, blackie. You haven't a clue what you're talking about.

$358 million last year in gas royalties. Hoping for $500 million this year, but there's been no recovery in either demand or pricing so far.

http://www.bcbudget.gov.bc.ca/2011/bfp/2011_Budget_Fiscal_Plan.pdf

And if you try to add land sales (drilling rights) to the total, what you find is that last year the total was $750 million but offset by over $900 million in roadbuilding.

Unfortunately the gas industry was nearly a net loss to the treasury last year. It wasn't always thus, nor will it always be so, but it does serve aequately to show that..

...you have no idea what you're talking about.