Tausi Insider

A totem pole is pictured outside the Kinder Morgan Burnaby Terminal and Tank Farm in Burnaby, B.C., on June 20, 2019. JASON REDMOND/AFP/Getty Images Robert Merasty is the executive director of the Indigenous Resource Network and former chief of Flying Dust First Nation. With the continuing global energy crisis, Canada is looking at ways to fast-track resource development infrastructure. For example, the federal government’s recent fiscal update provided $1.28-billion to improve its response time in assessing major projects. While this could help Ottawa in its regulatory approval process, there’s still a piece missing: The industry needs more support from Indigenous communities if it wants to move projects along quicker. The federal government has said multiple times that its duty to consult with Indigenous communities affected by mega-projects does not equal to their having a veto. But time and again, Indigenous opposition has been a major force in stopping or delaying energy infra...

The Canadian Association of Energy Contractors is forecasting a 15-per-cent bump in overall activity next year, but the industry continues to face challenges when it comes to crewing rigs and retaining workers. Todd Korol/Tausi Insider Canada’s energy services sector is forecasting a modest turnaround in activity next year after seven years of stagnation, but continues to face challenges when it comes to crewing rigs and retaining workers. As the country ramps up efforts to lower greenhouse gas emissions, the Canadian Association of Energy Contractors (CAOEC) is calling for a 50-per-cent federal tax credit to help the industry roll out greener rigs and other technology to help reduce its carbon footprint. While oil and gas producers have enjoyed windfall profits this year thanks to sky-high commodity prices, the services sector that supports the industry is lagging behind. Far from the highs of 2014, president and chief executive of CAOEC Mark Scholz says, most of his members – the w...

The Canada Energy Regulator has issued financial penalties against Trans Mountain Corp. related to the 2020 death of a worker. The regulator says the Crown corporation failed to take all reasonable care to ensure the safety and security of workers on the day of the incident. The incident occurred on Oct. 27, 2020, when a person working near Edmonton on the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion project was fatally injured. The person was disassembling a trench box at the time. The regulator has issued total fines of $164,000 against the company. Alberta Occupational Health and Safety has also laid charges related to this incident. https://www.tausiinsider.com/energy-regulator-fines-trans-mountain-for-2020-death-of-pipeline-expansion-worker/?feed_id=329760&_unique_id=6444ecf5e9bf5

Canadian oil and gas companies are expected to increase spending in 2023, but analysts say it will be another year of modest growth and not a return to boom times. For Canada’s energy industry, 2022 was the year that finally snapped a decade of weak commodity prices and brought prosperity back to the sector. With the lifting of global pandemic restrictions, the war in Ukraine, and the cumulative impact of years of underinvestment in oil and gas, energy prices hit record highs in 2022 and Canadian companies reaped record profits. But most of these profits went to paying down debt and rewarding shareholders, not into major construction or infrastructure projects. And even though commodity prices are expected to remain healthy in 2023, that theme is likely to remain. “The oil producers have become far more financially disciplined over the last six or eight years,” said Philip Petursson, chief investment strategist at IG Wealth Management, adding the threat of a looming recession in 2023...