A steady stream of more than 450 oil tankers calls at ports in Eastern and Atlantic Canada every year, drawing little public attention. That’s in part due to the industry’s safety record in the region, where accidents involving tankers are rare.  The most recent serious pollution incident from an oil tanker took place in Nova […]

The coming year could mark a turning point for the expansion of Canada’s oil and gas sector as governments look to harness its resources to drive economic independence and prosperity. Against a backdrop of steady drilling activity and continued production growth, new major export projects are expected to take significant steps forward.  Here are five […]

In the heart of Alberta’s oil sands region, a lake sits next to Suncor Energy’s Mildred Lake operation.  On the surface, it looks like one of the countless natural lakes dotting the boreal forest north of Fort McMurray. But several metres below, it tells a different story.  Base Mine Lake is not a natural lake—it’s […]

For the first time in nearly eight years, a brand-new oil sands project is operating in Alberta. It’s a rare development even as oil sands production continues to set new records. That’s because Blackrod, located about 3.5 hours north of Edmonton, isn’t an expansion or optimization of an existing project.  It’s a new facility built […]

Investor interest in Canadian oil producers, primarily in the Alberta oil sands, has picked up, and not only because of expanded export capacity from the Trans Mountain pipeline. Enverus Intelligence Research says the real draw — and a major factor behind oil sands equities outperforming U.S. peers by about 40 per cent since January 2024 […]

The Trans Mountain system continues its decades-long record of zero marine spills even as oil tanker traffic has surged more than 800 per cent since the pipeline’s expansion in May 2024. The number of tankers calling at Trans Mountain’s Westridge Marine Terminal in the Port of Vancouver in one month now rivals the number that […]

For Canada, the path to a stronger economy — and stronger global influence — runs through energy.  That’s the view of David Detomasi, a professor at the Smith School of Business at Queen’s University.  Detomasi, author of Profits and Power: Navigating the Politics and Geopolitics of Oil, argues that there is a moral case for […]

A “weird and wonderful” drilling innovation in Alberta is helping producers tap more oil and gas at lower cost and with less environmental impact. With names like fishbone, fan, comb-over and stingray, “multilateral” wells turn a single wellbore from the surface into multiple horizontal legs underground. “They do look spectacular, and they are making quite […]

In Alberta’s oil patch, some companies are going beyond their obligations to clean up inactive wells.  Aspenleaf Energy operates in the historic Leduc oil field, where drilling and production peaked in the 1950s.  In the last seven years, the privately-held company has spent more than $40 million on abandonment and reclamation, which it reports is […]

Once priced at a steep discount to its lighter, sweeter counterparts, Canadian oil has earned growing admiration—and market share—among new customers in Asia. Canada’s oil exports are primarily “heavy” oil from the Alberta oil sands, compared to oil from more conventional “light” plays like the Permian Basin in the U.S. One way to think of […]