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Alberta

A Matter of Fact: Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault’s future view of Canada’s oil and gas sector is unrealistic

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Canadian Minister of the Environment and Climate Change, Steven Guilbeault, speaks at the China pavilion during the United Nations Conference of the Parties (COP15) in Montreal, Quebec, on December 14, 2022. Getty Images photo

From the Canadian Energy Centre Ltd. 

Canada could play a key role in lowering global emissions by unlocking our LNG industry and helping Asian countries replace coal

Federal Environment and Climate Change Minister Steven Guilbeault is continuing to plot a painful course toward a short-sighted phase out of Canada’s world class oil and gas sector based on an unrealistic view of world’s future energy mix. 

In an interview with Euractiv, Guilbeault said he supports the phase out of unabated fossil fuels, those without the technology to minimize emissions, by 2050 to align with the International Energy Agency’s Net Zero Scenario, a path that is largely out of touch with the current global reality. 

Based on that increasingly unlikely scenario, the minister said he anticipates Canada’s oil and gas sector will follow suit with a 50% to 75% reduction in the production of oil and gas by 2050, which would be devastating for our economy, hurt our economic allies, and make little to no progress towards reducing global emissions. 

Here are the facts. 

Fact: The IEA’s Net Zero Scenario is largely aspirational, not practical 

Guilbeault’s vision of a massive global reduction of fossil fuel usage is growing even less likely amid a lingering energy crisis prompted by several years of declining investment in oil and gas followed by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. 

The fact is, this year the world will use more oil and more coal than any time in human history. 

According to the IEA’s latest short-term outlook, global oil use will hit a record high of 102 million barrels per day this year and is expected to grow to 106 million barrels per day by 2028. Last week, OPEC forecasted that by 2045, global oil demand will reach 110 million barrels per day 

Meanwhile, demand for natural gas, particularly liquefied natural gas (LNG) is soaring. 

By 2040, global LNG demand – driven primarily by growing Asian economies – is expected to reach 700 million tonnes, a more than 75 per cent increase from 2022. Demand for LNG is expected to outpace supply by the middle of this decade. 

Relying on the IEA’s Net Zero scenario, Guilbeault said he believes oil use will decline to between 25-30 million barrels per day, a 75 per cent reduction. Rapid deployment of renewables, he said, would fill that void despite some significant hurdles that could hinder a sweeping transition.  

The bottom line is pretty clear. In the IEA’s most likely scenario, oil and gas will still account for 47 per cent of the global energy mix in 2050, a reduction of 5 per cent from 2021. While the share of renewables will more than double, it is still expected only to account for 29 per cent of the world’s energy mix in 2050. 

Fact: A rapid phase out of oil and gas would hurt Canada and its allies 

Canada’s oil and gas sector is a critical part of our economy, supporting hundreds of thousands of jobs from coast-to-coast, including thousands of jobsin manufacturing, environmental, and financial services tied to the industry, especially in Ontario and Quebec. 

A recent analysis by commodity data firm S&P Global focused specifically on the oil sands suggests that efforts to meet federal emissions targets for 2030 would likely force the industry to slash production by up to 1.3 million barrels per day. 

According to the analysis, that could result in the elimination of between 5,400 and 9,500 jobs. With just over 54,000 oil and gas extraction jobs in Canada, that would mean the elimination of as much as 17% of the workforce. 

In addition to jobs, the industry is also an economic bulwark, generating $168 billion in GDP in 2021, about 7.2 per cent of Canada’s economic activity. Oil and gas also accounted for nearly a third of Canada’s exports in 2021, injecting $140 billon into the economy. 

Amid the ongoing global energy crisis, some of Canada’s international allies have turned to Canada to be a potential key supplier as they look for stable and responsible suppliers to replace Russian oil and gas. 

The leaders of Germany and Japan made direct appeals to Canada to supply more LNG to help meet their energy needs. 

Yamanouchi Kanji, Japan’s ambassador to Canada, made it clear that some of our Asian allies see Canada as a key player in the world’s future energy, particularly when it comes to LNG. 

“The world is waiting for Canada,” he said earlier this year. “Canada can and should play a very important role to support the energy situation not only in Japan and South Korea, but the world.” 

Fact: Reducing global emissions starts with Canadian natural gas 

If Canada is truly serious about tackling global greenhouse gas emissions, we could make a much bigger impact by supplying energy-hungry Asian countries with some of the cleanest LNG on the planet to replace coal. 

Climate change is a global issue, not a local one. 

Despite being one of the world’s largest energy producers, Canada is still only responsible for about 1.6 per cent of total global emissions 

Developing Asian counties, particularly China, have turned to coal to help power their growing economies. A switch to natural gas to generate power reduces emissions by 50 per cent on average, according to the IEA. Canadian natural gas shipped as LNG could perform even better, reducing emissions from coal by about 65 per cent, according to Energy for a Secure Future. 

With analysts expecting world LNG demand to double over the next two decades, Canada could make a real measurable impact on lowering global emissions by unlocking its LNG potential. 

A recent study by Wood Mackenzie found that Canadian LNG exports could reduce net emissions in Asia by 188 million tonnes per year through 2050. Put another way, that would be the annual equivalent of removing the emissions of all vehicles on Canadian roads, or wiping out nearly three time’s B.C.’s total emissions. 

Meanwhile, a coalition of six companies representing 95 per cent of Canada’s oil sand production have jointly committed to achieve net zero emissions by 2050. The Pathways Alliance is looking to harness emerging technology like carbon capture and storage as well as small modular nuclear reactors to reach that target. 

The reality is that if Canada significantly curtails its oil and gas industry, other national producers, some of which lack Canada’s commitment to democratic ideals and the environment, will fill that void. This could see bad actors like Russia continue to maintain a strategic and economic advantage over Europe by maintaining European reliance on its energy. 

Fact: Phasing out oil and gas would hurt Indigenous communities 

Over the last decade, Indigenous communities have emerged as key players in Canada’s energy sector, allowing First Nations in many cases to create intergenerational opportunity for their people. 

From pipelines to LNG terminals, dozens of Indigenous communities have entered into ownership agreements on major oil and gas projects. 

In B.C., 16 First Nations will acquire a 10 per cent stake in the Coastal GasLink pipeline once it’s completed later this year. In Alberta, another 23 First Nation and and Métis communities are now approximately 12 per cent owners of seven operating Enbridge oil sands pipelines, the largest Indigenous energy transaction ever in North America. 

And in northwest B.C., the Haisla Nation is 50 per cent owner of the proposed Cedar LNG project, which would be the first Indigenous-owned LNG terminal in the world. 

“When Europeans, Asians and Americans think of Canada’s Indigenous peoples, they often think we oppose all energy development. We aren’t victims of development. Increasingly we are partners and even owners in major projects,” Haisla Nation Chief Councillor Crystal Smith said during an April press conference after leading a delegation of Indigenous leaders to meet key international diplomats. 

Indigenous employment in Canada’s oil and gas sector has continued to grow, rising by more than 20 per cent since 2014 to reach an estimated 10,400 jobs in 2020. 

Indigenous-owned businesses also benefit from the industry, with three major projects – the Trans Mountain Expansion, Coastal GasLink, and LNG Canada – spending some $9 billion with Indigenous- and locally-owned businesses.   

 

Alberta

Alberta court upholds conviction of Pastor Artur Pawlowski for preaching at Freedom Convoy protest

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From LifeSiteNews

By Clare Marie Merkowsky

Lawyers argued that Pastor Artur Pawlowski’s sermon was intended to encourage protesters to find a peaceful solution to the blockade, but the statement was characterized as a call for mischief.

An Alberta Court of Appeal ruled that Calgary Pastor Artur Pawlowski is guilty of mischief for his sermon at the Freedom Convoy-related border protest blockade in February 2022 in Coutts, Alberta.

On October 29, Alberta Court of Appeal Justice Gordon Krinke sentenced the pro-freedom pastor to 60 days in jail for “counselling mischief” by encouraging protesters to continue blocking Highway 4 to protest COVID mandates.

“A reasonable person would understand the appellant’s speech to be an active inducement of the illegal activity that was ongoing and that the appellant intended for his speech to be so understood,” the decision reads.

Pawlowski addressed a group of truckers and protesters blocking entrance into the U.S. state of Montana on February 3, the fifth day of the Freedom Convoy-styled protest. He encouraged the protesters to “hold the line” after they had reportedly made a deal with Royal Canadian Mounted Police to leave the border crossing and travel to Edmonton.

“The eyes of the world are fixed right here on you guys. You are the heroes,” Pawlowski said. “Don’t you dare go breaking the line.”

After Pawlowski’s sermon, the protesters remained at the border crossing for two additional weeks. While his lawyers argued that his speech was made to encourage protesters to find a peaceful solution to the blockade, the statement is being characterized as a call for mischief.

Days later, on February 8, Pawlowski was arrested – for the fifth time – by an undercover SWAT team just before he was slated to speak again to the Coutts protesters.

He was subsequently jailed for nearly three months for what he said was for speaking out against COVID mandates, the subject of all the Freedom Convoy-related protests.

In Krinke’s decision, he argued that Pawlowski’s sermon incited the continuation of the protest, saying, “The Charter does not provide justification to anybody who incites a third party to commit such crimes.”

“While the appellant is correct that peaceful, lawful and nonviolent communication is entitled to protection, blockading a highway is an inherently aggressive and potentially violent form of conduct, designed to intimidate and impede the movement of third parties,” he wrote.

Pawlowski was released after the verdict. He has already spent 78 days in jail before the trial.

Pawlowski is the first Albertan to be charged for violating the province’s Critical Infrastructure Defence Act (CIDA), which was put in place in 2020 under then-Premier Jason Kenney.

The CIDA, however, was not put in place due to COVID mandates but rather after anti-pipeline protesters blockaded key infrastructure points such as railway lines in Alberta a few years ago.

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Alberta

Heavy-duty truckers welcome new ‘natural gas highway’ in Alberta

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Clean Energy Fuels CEO Andrew Littlefair, Tourmaline CEO Mike Rose, and Mullen Group chairman Murray Mullen attend the opening of a new Clean Energy/Tourmaline compressed natural gas (CNG) fuelling station in Calgary on Oct. 22, 2024. Photo courtesy Tourmaline

From the Canadian Energy Centre

By Deborah Jaremko

New compressed natural gas fueling stations in Grande Prairie and Calgary join new stop in Edmonton

Heavy-duty truckers hauling everything from restaurant supplies to specialized oilfield services along one of Western Canada’s busiest corridors now have more access to a fuel that can help reduce emissions and save costs.

Two new fuelling stations serving compressed natural gas (CNG) rather than diesel in Grande Prairie and Calgary, along with a stop that opened in Edmonton last year, create the first phase of what proponents call a “natural gas highway”.

“Compressed natural gas is viable, it’s competitive and it’s good for the environment,” said Murray Mullen, chair of Mullen Group, which operates more than 4,300 trucks and thousands of pieces of equipment supporting Western Canada’s energy industry.

Right now, the company is running 19 CNG units and plans to deploy another 15 as they become available.

“They’re running the highways right now and they’re performing exceptionally well,” Mullen said on Oct. 22 during the ribbon-cutting ceremony opening the new station on the northern edge of Calgary along Highway 2.

“Our people love them, our customers love them and I think it’s going to be the way for the future to be honest,” he said.

Heavy-duty trucks at Tourmaline and Clean Energy’s new Calgary compressed natural gas fuelling station. Photo courtesy Tourmaline

According to Natural Resources Canada, natural gas burns more cleanly than gasoline or diesel fuel, producing fewer toxic pollutants and greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to climate change.

The two new CNG stops are part of a $70 million partnership announced last year between major Canadian natural gas producer Tourmaline and California-based Clean Energy Fuels.

Their deal would see up to 20 new CNG stations built in Western Canada over the next five years, daily filling up to 3,000 natural gas-fueled trucks.

One of North America’s biggest trucking suppliers to businesses including McDonald’s, Pizza Hut, Subway and Popeye’s says the new stations will help as it expands its fleet of CNG-powered vehicles across Canada.

Amy Senter, global vice-president of sustainability with Illinois-based Martin Brower, said in a statement that using more CNG is critical to the company achieving its emissions reduction targets.

For Tourmaline, delivering CNG to heavy-duty truckers builds on its multi-year program to displace diesel in its operations, primarily by switching drilling equipment to run on natural gas.

Between 2018 and 2022, the company displaced the equivalent of 36 Olympic-sized swimming pools worth of diesel that didn’t get used, or the equivalent emissions of about 58,000 passenger vehicles.

Tourmaline CEO Mike Rose speaks to reporters during the opening of a new Tourmaline/Clean Energy compressed natural gas fuelling station in Calgary on Oct. 22, 2024. Photo courtesy Tourmaline

Tourmaline CEO Mike Rose noted that the trucking sector switching fuel from diesel to natural gas is gaining momentum, notably in Asia.

A “small but growing” share of China’s trucking fleet moving to natural gas helped drive an 11 percent reduction in overall diesel consumption this June compared to the previous year, according to the latest data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

“China’s talking about 30 percent of the trucks sold going forward are to be CNG trucks, and it’s all about reducing emissions,” Rose said.

“It’s one global atmosphere. We’re going to reduce them here; they’re going to reduce them there and everybody’s a net winner.”

Switching from diesel to CNG is “extremely cost competitive” for trucking fleets, said Clean Energy CEO Andrew Littlefair.

“It will really move the big rigs that we need in Western Canada for the long distance and heavy loads,” he said.

Tourmaline and Clean Energy aim to have seven CNG fuelling stations operating by the end of 2025. Construction is set to begin in Kamloops, B.C., followed by Fort McMurray and Fort St. John.

“You’ll have that Western Canadian corridor, and then we’ll grow it from there,” Littlefair said.

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