Petroleum News Alaska by Kristen Nelson: BP Exploration (Alaska) and ConocoPhillips Alaska, the North Slope’s major operators, delivered similar messages to the Resource Development Council’s annual conference Nov. 14 in Anchorage: The state’s oil and gas tax system needs to be changed.
 Brad Keithley’s Blog (NGP Photo): "in order to achieve what many call their first priority — oil reform — the Governor and legislature now are first going to need to relearn what they should have already been practicing all along — fiscal restraint." |
Commentary: Today’s report features news from Canada’s great think tank, the Frasier Institute. The news reminds one of Alaska’s economic condition and America’s economic condition. It may be that due to the relative weakness of the U.S. dollar, the Canadian dollar has shown strength. However, with more reliance on deficit spending, as in Alaska (i.e. ‘deficit in the sense of ‘unsustainable’) and the U.S., Canadian politicians are finding the pressure to spend and counteracting environmental pressures both erode the energy industry’s ability to support economies and its ability to usher large energy projects through complex political and regulatory gauntlets. We hope those involved in America’s newer shale plays from North Dakota to Texas to New York do not replicate and then relive the political misjudgments made by other more mature energy cousins in Alaska and Canada. -dh
Frasier Institute: November edition of Fraser Update, where you can catch up on our latest research studies, newspaper commentaries, and events.
Earlier this week, federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty announced that his government will continue running deficits until 2016-17. That’s one year later than the finance minister predicted in the 2012 budget and the third time he has extended the government’s balanced-budget projection since 2009.
NEW STUDIES:Lifting the Moratorium: The Costs and Benefits of Offshore Oil Drilling in British Columbia
BC and Canada could see billions of dollars in economic benefits if the federal government lifted the moratorium on offshore oil exploration off the province’s coast. This report shows how other jurisdictions such as Norway, the United Kingdom, and Newfoundland & Labrador have developed offshore oil resources and enjoyed tremendous economic benefits through increased energy-related investment and government revenue, all without causing significant environmental damage.
Read a summary | Read the news release
Laying the Groundwork for BC LNG Exports to Asia
The BC government’s dream of creating jobs and investment by exporting liquefied natural gas (LNG) to Asia could be at risk unless the cumbersome and overlapping regulatory process and environmental reviews can be streamlined. This report examines the barriers and obstacles that could delay or inhibit the construction of natural gas pipelines, gas liquefaction facilities, and marine terminals critical to building an LNG export industry.
Read a summary | Read the news release
RELATED NEWSPAPER REPORTS:
by Mark Milke (Calgary Herald, Vancouver Sun, November 3)
In the debate over whether China’s partially state-owned energy company CNOOC should be given the go-ahead by Ottawa to take over Calgary-based Nexen, there is the danger that the discussion will be cast in an adversarial east-west context. Read on
by Alan Dowd (American Legion Magazine, November 1)
Examining the autocrats who generate the most news and/or the most worries for the international community. Read on
by Mark Milke (National Post, Calgary Herald, October 26)
Mayors and councillors across North America regularly spend taxpayer cash trying to revitalize neighbourhoods or entire cities. They often do so in expensive and ineffective ways: grand schemes that wipe away existing neighbourhoods or street markets, only to be replaced with massive convention centres (mostly unused by locals) or costly new arenas for professional sports teams. Read on
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