July 30, 2012 – Republic of Mining

The Oil Sands PR War – by Chris Turner (Marketing Magazine – August 13, 2012)

July 30, 2012

http://www.marketingmag.ca/

For a column about the dismal image of Canada’s mining sector by Stan Sudol, click here: http://republicofmining.com/2011/11/29/the-horrible-image-of-canada%e2%80%99s-mining-sector-%e2%80%93-by-stan-sudol/

The down and dirty fight to brand Canada’s oil patch – Chris Turner

Not long ago, a half-page ad appeared on page three of The Globe & Mail. Over an image of a bucolic forest glade lit by a golden sunrise, a headline read, “Energy the world needs. The approach Canadians expect.” The ad was short on specifics—a block of smaller type spoke of Canada’s perception in the wider world and “a constant effort to improve our environmental performance.” The only appearance of the word oil was in the URL for the campaign’s website: OilSandsToday.ca.

The ad had been placed by the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP), and it was the latest effort in an ongoing, two-year campaign to improve the public image of Canada’s oil industry—particularly the lucrative but much-maligned bitumen extraction business in the oil sands of northern Alberta. The bucolic forest glade, the ad’s fine print noted, was a “reclaimed mining operation” in Alberta’s vast boreal forest, executed by Syncrude.

If Globe readers didn’t come away from their morning scan thinking of CAPP’s golden meadow, that might be because it wasn’t the only story about Canadian oil in the front section of the paper that day. “Spate of spills pushes Alberta to harder look at pipeline safety,” read a front-page headline.

BHP said to delay Olympic Dam expansion – Bloomberg News (National Post – July 30, 2012)

July 30, 2012

The National Post is Canada’s second largest national paper.

BHP Billiton Ltd., the world’s biggest mining company, will delay approval of a $33 billion mine expansion in Australia for two years because of falling commodity prices, The Australian newspaper reported.

The company will delay a decision until 2014, the newspaper said, citing a document prepared by an unidentified consultancy. The document was prepared with knowledge from BHP staff, the Australian said.

The board of Melbourne-based BHP Billiton has been due to decide on proceeding with the Olympic Dam copper-uranium-gold mine expansion by the end of this year. Chief Executive Officer Marius Kloppers warned in May that rising costs and easing commodity prices may change the economics of certain projects.

“We will inform the market when decisions have been taken,” Antonios Papaspiropoulos, a spokesman for BHP Billiton, said by phone today. He declined to comment on the boards’ previously stated end-year decision deadline.

Fresh anger in U.S. as Enbridge races to clean up Wisconsin oil spill – by Brendan O’Brien (Reuters/Globe and Mail – July 29, 2012)

July 30, 2012

The Globe and Mail is Canada’s national newspaper with the second largest broadsheet circulation in the country. It has enormous influence on Canada’s political and business elite.

GRAND MARSH, Wis. — Reuters – Canada’s Enbridge Inc on Sunday worked to repair a major pipeline that spilled more than 1,000 barrels of oil in a Wisconsin field, provoking fresh ire from Washington over the latest in a series of leaks.

The spill on Friday — almost two years to the day after a ruptured Enbridge line fouled part of the Kalamazoo River in Michigan — has forced the closure of a major conduit for Canadian light crude shipments to U.S. refiners and threatens to further damage the reputation of a company that launched a more than $3 billion expansion program just two months ago.

On Sunday, an Enbridge spokesman said the company was working diligently to carry out inspections to Line 14 and repairs to ensure a safe restart. The company did not say what had caused the incident and provided no estimate on when the 318,000 barrels-per-day Line 14 would resume service.

Q&A with ‘Anti-Bono’ Zambian economist Dambisa Moyo [China resource competition] – by Rick Westhead (Toronto Star – July 29, 2012)

July 30, 2012

The Toronto Star, has the largest circulation in Canada. The paper has an enormous impact on federal and Ontario politics as well as shaping public opinion.

Q: How long did you research and report your book?

A: It took me about three years. I did probably 80 interviews with hedge funds, policy makers. Of those, probably 30 interviews were with Chinese officials. I spend about 80 per cent of my time in developing markets. I’m in Africa once a quarter and China two or three times a year. So over the course of writing the book, I probably spend three or four months in China. I felt like I had a good connection with people. I’ve seen Chinese mines, been on their oil rigs.

Q: China’s Prime Minister Wen Jiabao has said that without reforms China could face another Cultural Revolution. It’s very strong language from such as prominent leader. Did you get a sense from your time in China of what kind of opposition the government faces?

A: Not in the way you or I think about it, but there’s been a lot of transformation in China’s political system while we haven’t been watching. We are all sort of hyper-focused on issues like: are they going to have democratic elections where every Chinese stands in a line, queues around the block and elects a president? While we’ve been focused on that, there have been a whole lot of reforms going on.

Only Harper can end pipeline politicking – by John Ibbitson (Globe and Mail – July 30, 2012)

July 30, 2012

The Globe and Mail is Canada’s national newspaper with the second largest broadsheet circulation in the country. It has enormous influence on Canada’s political and business elite.

Stephen Harper is going to have to talk to the provinces about energy. And he hates that sort of thing.

In Saturday’s Globe, Premier Christy Clark succinctly outlined her key demands before the British Columbia government will support the Northern Gateway pipeline proposal. Most of them are eminently reasonable: The project must clear the National Energy Board review; there must be the most stringent possible controls to prevent and mitigate spills; first nations in B.C. must benefit from the project.

The final demand, however, is the deal-breaker: “B.C. must receive its fair share of the fiscal and economic benefits,” from the pipeline. B.C. wants a piece of the action.

Alberta Premier Alison Redford made it abundantly clear at last week’s premiers’ meeting that Ms. Clark can have all the revenue she wants, so long as not one penny of it comes from Alberta’s take.

Oil-patch ironies aside, many questions for Harper – by Jeffrey Simpson (Globe and Mail – July 28, 2012)

July 30, 2012

The Globe and Mail is Canada’s national newspaper with the second largest broadsheet circulation in the country. It has enormous influence on Canada’s political and business elite.

Those who have discussed the issue with him report that Prime Minister Stephen Harper has been worried a state-owned company, likely from China, would take a run at a major Canadian energy producer.

Now that the massive China National Offshore Oil Corp. (CNOOC Ltd.) has bid $15.1-billion for Nexen Inc., it’s easy to understand the Prime Minister’s uneasiness. His initial statements were properly guarded, as befits the complexity of the file and his own apparent hesitations.

It has been said that the CNOOC bid is a standard business transaction: one company taking over another, in this case with the support of the Nexen board. CNOOC trades on stock exchanges. It has made commitments about keeping headquarters in Calgary, maintaining staff and conducting business pretty much as before.

National energy strategy must address B.C. pipeline worries – by Christy Clark (Globe and Mail – July 28, 2012)

July 30, 2012

The Globe and Mail is Canada’s national newspaper with the second largest broadsheet circulation in the country. It has enormous influence on Canada’s political and business elite.

CHRISTY CLARK is the Premier of British Columbia.

This week, my government outlined five bottom-line requirements that must be met for British Columbia to consider support of any heavy oil pipeline project, including Enbridge’s Northern Gateway. We know that Alberta’s oil sands are an important resource and getting them to new markets represents a great economic opportunity for that province and our country. But as a premier, I am focused first and foremost on what’s best for my province, and Northern Gateway currently contains far too great an imbalance of risks over benefits for B.C.

British Columbia’s five bottom lines are as follows:

1. Successful completion of an environmental review process. In Enbridge’s case, this means a recommendation by the Joint Review Panel that the project proceed.

2. World-leading marine oil-spill prevention and response systems to protect our coastlines and ocean. With the Enbridge project, British Columbia is taking 100 per cent of the marine risk. We need to make sure we improve our response and resource capacity. That means the federal government and industry are at the table and prepared to step up their support.