Read the latest insights and analysis from the experts at Oil Change International.
Yesterday, in a moment described as void of “drama or fanfare,” he vetoed legislation which would have forced approval of the controversial Keystone XL pipeline, which would carry dirty tar sands oil Alberta to the Gulf Coast.
In a sign that the oil price plunge is really beginning to bite, yesterday oil giant Royal Dutch Shell announced that the company is indefinitely postponing plans to develop a new tar sands mine in northern Alberta.
The tar sands industry lists market access as the number one threat to its future in a recent industry survey.
When legendary guitarist Jimi Hendrix wrote the song “Castles Made of Sand,” the critics argued that the sand metaphor symbolised “the temporary nature of existence” ” and “how nothing can be taken for granted”.
The oil industry is in surprisingly bullish mood. As America prepares to go to the polls today in the crucial mid-term elections, Republicans have signalled that, if victorious, they will immediately push to free up exports of gas and oil and pass legislation forcing him to approve the controversial Keystone XL pipeline.
In a case that will be watched keenly worldwide, a Canadian Federal Court will today start reviewing the approval last December of the expansion of Shell’s controversial Jackpine tar sands mine in Alberta.
A proposal to label the dirty tar sands as more polluting than conventional oil has been spectacularly abandoned by the European Commission after a four year lobbying campaign by the Canadians.
