Today we know better. The conspiratorial machinations of businesspeople are not required to create business cycles; economic systems have a sufficient complexity to create these themselves. Moreover, technology can hardly be seen as a stabilizing force as new developments are usually highly disruptive. Still, Veblen was right that business cycles create bargains. The current recession is definitely doing this as the control of oil and gas equities around the world could see a shift from the hands of the OECD consumers to certain financially solvent developing countries. The recent precipitous 70% drop in oil prices has created these bargains but the credit crisis has restricted access to this game to only a few players. Several international oil companies are naturally still in a position to play so I’d keep my eyes on cash-rich supermajors like ExxonMobil and Total. But national oil companies backed up by gargantuan sovereign wealth funds will be shaking things up considerably. Already Abu Dhabi- and Dubai-based investment companies are on a buying spree, even in Canada. And with its still-burgeoning economy and fragile political system, China and its Big Three state-run petroleum companies (Sinopec, PetroChina, CNOOC) are now revving up their acquisition motors. This is aptly pointed out in today’s Financial Post article (February 23, 2009) “China moves to snap up bargain-basement oil“:

This week, Beijing sealed a multibillion-dollar deal to secure 20 years of Russian oil. Meanwhile, the Chinese government is also considering diverting some of its US$1.95-trillion in foreign exchange reserves to set up a fund for overseas oil investment and exploration. Beijing also plans to offer cheap loans to domestic firms that make overseas oil investments.

Veblen may have been wrong about a cabal of businesspeople creating crises the working classes in a style reminiscent of Huxley’s Brave New World. Nonetheless, he was right in recognizing how the path for the creation of great wealth is laid in times of market downturns. China’s state-run resource behemoths weren’t welcome by many countries when things were going well. How things have changed!

展会名称： 2008年加拿大全球国际石油、天然气展览会
展会时间： 2008年6月10日–12日
展览周期： 二年一届
展会地点： 加拿大 卡尔加里

展品范围：
机械设备：石油钻具、油井设备、离岸设备、离岸平台、焊接技术和设备、分离设备、油罐设备、起重设备、吊装设备、密封、防腐、保温、通风设备、升降设备、物探设备、遥控监测设备、制冷设备、维修、保养设备、透平机、涡轮机、汽轮机、叶轮机、各种金属制管道和橡皮制软管及其连接装置、电动传送装置、及其装配、液压起重器; 仪器仪表：阀门、变压器、温度感应器、稳定器、记录器、过滤器、测量仪器、气体计量仪表、法兰等；其 它：过滤网、筛网、钢铁架构、安全系统、报警系统、操作进程控制系统、管道线路保护系统、实验及模拟系统、险情控制系统、紧急停工系统、钻井平台、石油天然气管道及其安装、天然气集合管、绝缘材料、指示灯和指示器材、焚化炉、千斤顶、水龙消防栓、电气工程作业、钻探工具、熔炉、防火装置和消防灭火装置、防爆装置、完井等

展会概况：
上届展会2006年加拿大全球石油展览会是全球第二大的石油专业展会，两年一届，是全球该行业的供应商综合展示最新石油和天然气工业技术的舞台。汇聚了1600余家参展商，净展览面积达55000平方米，参观展览会的专业观众分别来自加拿大、美国、德国，英国，法国，，意大利，澳大利亚，伊朗，土耳其等。展会吸引了来自埃及、沙特、伊朗、伊拉克、科威特以及欧洲、美国、印巴、远东地区85个国家和地区超过50000名专业人士登记参会。是世界石油行业最著名的展览会之一。

北京中展环球国际展览有限公司作为展览会在中国的总代理，针对中国石油行业企业开拓国际市场的需求，因组委会摊位非常紧张，2008年向中国参展商300平方米专区面积，本着先报名先付款先分配的原则分配摊位，报名截止时间为展位售完即止。

我们十分高兴地邀请贵单位光临本会, 有参会或参展意向的单位, 请务必将参展申请表填妥并盖章邮寄或传真至北京中展环球国际展览有限公司。我们将继续努力发挥贸易会展以及考察的促销功能和作用, 为参展、参会者提供展示、考察、调研、参观、咨询、科技交流与合作的良好机会和服务。

联系单位:
北京中展环球国际展览有限公司
北京市立水桥北北方明珠大厦1号楼2209室 102218
联系人：许诺

YELLOWKNIFE – Two months after a historic trade mission to China, NWT delegates are rife with memories – and are still scrambling to put together a report.

“It was a bit of an eye-opener for us,” said Robin Wotherspoon, president of NWT Tourism and one of the delegates on the 10-day trip.

The $160,000 visit was a whirlwind tour of Hong Kong, Shanghai and Beijing Sept. 10-20, in which delegates met industry and tourism representatives, said Garry Singer, director of investment and economic analysis for the GNWT’s Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment.

“It was a good reception,” Singer said of several presentations made by the GNWT and other representatives of Northern tourism and industry.

These presentations focused on the NWT as a pristine tourist destination, he said, as well as a future transportation route for industry to the Alberta oil sands.

“Overall, they were well-attended, and there was a lot of interest,” Singer said.

“It’s following up on that interest that is going to be the next step.”

The trade mission was a source of anger in the dying days of the 15th legislative assembly in August, as several non-cabinet MLAs cried foul at the trip’s timing and lack of transparency.

“Normally, committee is given ample notice, detail and information on the nature of these kinds of fairly high profile (trips),” said former Great Slave MLA Bill Braden at the time.

The trade mission came to light during discussions on a legislative assembly spending bill when cabinet asked for an additional $100,000 added to $100,000 already budgeted for the trip. The trip would come in under budget at $160,000.

Braden put forward a motion to cancel the trip’s additional funding – a move that was defeated.

One critic, Kam Lake MLA Dave Ramsay, said he and other members still haven’t seen any solid evidence of the trip’s value to the territories.

“There’s a number of questions that I would like to ask,” he said.

Singer said a report would be available “in the coming weeks.”

Ramsay said he will be serving as the chair of the standing committee on economic development and infrastructure in the 16th assembly, and hopes the committee will offer more checks and balances on future trade missions.

“We need some way to measure success,” he said. “That’s something the last government never really did.”

While he acknowledged the benefits of initiating business relationships with China, Ramsay said the process could have been more transparent.

“It has to be measured, well-timed and well-executed,” he said. “I don’t know if this last trade mission was.”

Former premier Joe Handley said seeing China firsthand drove home all he had heard and read about the country’s powerful economy.

“You don’t appreciate it until you see it,” he said.

Handley said it is important for Canada and the North to take an active role with this growing superpower.

“We can’t isolate ourselves,” he said. “It does not work in today’s world.

“(The trip) was worthwhile, absolutely.”

Wotherspoon said she was surprised to learn how “open” Canada is to Chinese tourism, despite strict restrictions for travelling abroad – including financial deposits for visas, and clear demonstrations travellers intend to return to China.

“The Canadian embassies were processing 150-170,000 visas per year,” she said. “So they’re totally coming.”

She said these restrictions are more loose in Hong Kong, which is still considered a special administrative region.

Wotherspoon was further surprised that Chinese delegates seem to have a different take on what the North has to offer.

“I don’t think the aurora holds the mysticism that it does for other Asian traffic,” she said. “As a natural phenomenon, they were certainly impressed.”

She said delegates seemed most taken with the unspoiled natural beauty the NWT offers, in contrast to the pollution that many Chinese cities suffer from.

“I think they were quite awestruck,” she said.

“We want to make sure that they know there is an opportunity in the NWT to have an extremely unique and spectacular experience.”

Adam Johnson
Northern News Services
Published Wednesday, November 21, 2007

新闻发布

阿尔伯塔省卡尔加里—-SkinnyFish传媒公司，《阿尔伯塔石油》杂志的发行商，已成为第一个在中华人民共和国发行商业性中文期刊的加拿大公司。《加拿大石油》杂志将与中国石油与化学工业杂志公司（CPCI）联袂编辑发行，为中国读者提供以加拿大为信息源的有关石油天然气工业的最新资讯和评论。

“加拿大作为全球能源强国正在吸引能源饥渴的中国的瞩目。《加拿大石油》为我们能源业界传播自己的声音建立了一个频道：一个用中文播出的频道。”Mike Dodd， SkinnyFish公司总裁如是说。“第一年，《加拿大石油》将发行两期—分别在春季和秋季。之后我们将评估发行情况，以决定是否在2009年将杂志扩为季刊。”

中国石油与化学工业杂志公司（CPCI）是隶属中国石油与化学工业的知名媒体， 其会员单位覆盖中石油和中石化公司，在中国的石油和石化工业领域具有极强的影响力。CPCI将通过现有的发行渠道，把《加拿大石油》送达十万读者手中。

主编高柏松如此评述这一时代创举：“加拿大是正在崛起的能源强国。中国是正在崛起的经济强国。我们将致力于为两国间的能源企业信息与智慧的交流。”

SkinnyFish公司已扩充人员，加强中文翻译、广告文案的本地化以及文章编辑工作。广告客户的所有信息将刊登在杂志的工商目录栏，以方便中国政府机构、企业和科研院所查询。

详情请询：403-613-0601 高柏松（Sebastian Gault）

The European oil majors have long dominated in the Gulf, with Netherlands-based Royal Dutch Shell PLC pioneering offshore exploration in the 1960s, and the U.K.’s BP PLC leading the pack in recent years with a series of ultra-deepwater finds. Since 2005 those giants have been joined by smaller European majors, with Norway’s StatoilHydro, Spain’s Repsol-YPF and Italy’s Eni all massively increasing their U.S. holdings.

In a series of predominantly under-the-radar deals over the past 18 months, Japanese and Korean oil companies have gained a toehold in the U.S. The total amount spent on acquisitions — more than $3.4 billion — is less than Eni’s April deal for a U.S. company’s Gulf assets. But for companies that long have been bit players outside Asia, the smaller deals are no less significant. They look to the U.S. as a steady source of both energy and cash as they seek to broaden the sources of oil and gas for Japan and Korea, which have outgrown their traditional suppliers.

“In the past, our core activity was in Southeast Asia and Australia. We’re looking for diversification,” says Haruo Kumo, head of the U.S. energy operations of Japanese industrial conglomerate Mitsui & Co.

The new foreign entrants are stepping in just as many of the biggest producers in the U.S. are pulling out of older fields. The big producers for the most part don’t want to invest the ever-increasing amounts needed to prolong the life of reservoirs that in some cases are nearly tapped dry. The Asian newcomers are small players in the exploration and production worlds, but they are some of the world’s largest companies, with financial resources to match. While most deals are in territory ignored by the bigger Western companies, some Japanese firms have shown a willingness to act as financiers for larger projects led by U.S. and European companies.

Dealmakers and industry experts are split, however, on how much of a future there is for Asian investment in U.S. production. Oil and gas fields are more expensive to buy in the U.S. than almost anywhere else and provide lower profit margins. And the group of Asian buyers most likely to pursue deals on Eni’s scale, the Chinese oil companies, remain wary after political pressure in the U.S. sank a 2005 deal.

Getting Started

Mr. Kumo won’t say much about Mitsui’s future in the U.S., a year after his company bought a 50% stake in natural-gas fields off the Texas and Louisiana coasts. “We’re not shrinking” is all he offers.

Neither are at least nine other Asian energy companies. They range from the state-owned Korea National Oil Corp. to diversified Japanese conglomerates like Mitsui and Mitsubishi Corp. Deals range from relatively small purchases in the shallows of the Gulf of Mexico and in Texas to a $1.2 billion stake in a major deepwater oil project. Most of the new entrants say they’re just getting started — Itochu Corp., a Tokyo-based conglomerate, has spent only 20% of the $860 million it plans to spend on U.S. gas fields through 2009.

The acquisitions have mostly been in shallow-water gas fields off the Gulf Coast, territory that most major energy companies have been leaving over the past five years. The wells there are running down, with production dropping 44% between 2002 and 2006, albeit to a still substantial 4.9 billion cubic feet of gas a day, according to the U.S. Minerals Management Service. But those fields should still be yielding four billion cubic feet of gas a day in 2015, almost entirely from wells that have yet to be drilled, says Bill Gwozd, vice president of gas services at Ziff Energy Group, a Calgary, Alberta-based consulting firm. “The companies that are buying are not buying yesterday’s production,” he says. “They’re buying potential for tomorrow.”

Even new wells in the shallows produce about one-third the amount of gas that a well yields in the deeper, less extensively mined waters of the Gulf. Prospects farther from the coast, while far more expensive to exploit, also have the potential for a rich payoff in oil. While gas prices topped out in late 2005, oil prices have continued to rise. BP sold the last of its shallow-water holdings in 2006, while a Repsol unit is currently marketing leases in 3,000 feet of water in order to focus on newer fields in waters twice as deep.

For Asian producers, the shallows represent what Sojitz Corp., an early Japanese arrival in the Gulf, once called “blue-chip blocks” — sites that yield low margins on steady production. That sort of predictable cash can then be put toward financing projects in Libya, for example, a rapidly growing but riskier focus of Japanese exploration.

The Japanese government, meanwhile, is helping private companies finance expensive projects in the U.S., as part of its effort to guarantee a continued steady flow of oil and gas imports. Mitsui, for example, is a partner with the government in a gas field in the Gulf that is difficult and costly to tap. In return for financing, the government can, during a severe energy shortage, require Mitsui to send gas or oil to Japan from one of its more established assets elsewhere in the world.

Such efforts are designed in part to help offset setbacks Japan suffered last year when it lost major supply contracts in Iran and Russia. Around that time, the Japanese government, and to a lesser extent South Korea, started to more aggressively push private companies to look beyond traditional suppliers.

The Japanese companies have “had some bad experiences,” says Adrian Goodisman, the Houston-based managing director of Scotia Waterous, a Calgary investment-banking firm that advised sellers in two deals involving Japanese buyers in the Gulf of Mexico earlier this year. “A lot picked up exploration projects,” he says, but “some of these got delayed, and they’re looking for existing producing volumes.”

But the Asians also appear set to branch out from their ultraconservative initial purchases. Four Asian companies spent a combined $46.2 million in the government sale of Gulf of Mexico exploration rights in October, up from a single $442,000 high bid from an Asian company in a similar auction last year. In September, Sojitz became the first Japanese company to move onshore, with an $82 million purchase of technologically challenging gas fields in Texas. Mitsui is also looking onshore, Mr. Kumo says, and other companies have put out feelers, says Mr. Goodisman.

“We think we have a great future in this market,” says Toshiyuki Yamaguchi, a spokesman in Tokyo for Sojitz, which spent $40 million on stakes in three Gulf of Mexico oil fields in October.

Some industry observers see limits for Asian companies in the U.S., though. While production has been falling, drilling and servicing costs have jumped over the past five years. Although substantial reserves remain beneath the Gulf shallows, even companies that haven’t sold their assets there increasingly see them as too expensive to exploit. “The cost structure is the highest, production is the lowest — it doesn’t sound as rosy as earlier,” say Ziff Energy Group’s Mr. Gwozd.

The number of rigs drilling in the shallow-water Gulf has fallen to 47 from 84 a year ago, according to Baker Hughes Inc., a services company that conducts rig counts.

Onshore production is steady, but only through a massive spending effort by producers, which, like their peers offshore, have seen margins squeezed by rising service costs. Technologically challenging gas fields like the ones Sojitz bought in September are seen in the industry as the last hope for new large-scale production in the continental U.S., and that means little prime acreage is available to newcomers.

“Most of the good acreage in these plays…is leased to the larger [U.S.-based] independents,” says Scott Mitchell, a U.S. oil and gas specialist with the consulting firm Wood Mackenzie in Houston. “It’s tough to see any big competitive advantage for a foreign entrant.”

But big, quick profits rarely are the goal for the Asian companies, which stress the wider strategic value of owning production in the U.S. Sojitz’s Mr. Yamaguchi describes his company’s purchases as part of a global effort to exploit unconventional gas reserves. Mr. Kumo of Mitsui says a presence in the U.S. helps the company establish connections in the energy industry that can lead to lucrative partnerships.

The landscape could change dramatically if Chinese energy companies enter the mix. China’s state-owned giants were among the first to move aggressively outside Asia, and have entered countries through multibillion-dollar deals where Korean and Japanese companies have inched their way in.

But where Mitsui or Itochu might see minimal political risk in the U.S. to balance high-tension operations in the Middle East or West Africa, the equation was reversed for the Chinese by Cnooc Ltd.’s failed acquisition of Unocal Corp. in 2005.

“It’s easier to make money in the Middle East and Africa,” says Peter Huang, who represents China Offshore Oil Engineering Corp., Cnooc’s oilfield-services subsidiary, in Houston.

Had the $18.5 billion deal for California-based Unocal gone through, Cnooc would have become one of the largest owners of acreage in the Gulf of Mexico. Instead, a political backlash from the U.S. Congress over energy-security concerns led to Chevron Corp. acquiring Unocal. Chinese energy companies have been skittish about acquiring an American company or assets ever since, though interest never completely vanished.

“We’ve had Chinese companies bid unsuccessfully on U.S. opportunities post-Unocal,” says Mr. Goodisman, with Scotia Waterous, who adds that the country’s tilt toward megadeals limits opportunities in the U.S.

Mr. Huang agrees that Chinese companies still want a stronger presence in the U.S., and that an acquisition for under $2 billion would have a better chance of success than an Unocal-size purchase.

“Chinese national oil companies should…understand what kind of role size plays in the political game,” Mr. Huang says. “In a smaller [deal], it’s harder for politicians to play.”

(c) Wall Street Journal Online WSJ.com

Canada’s Chinese exports surge: China’s voracious appetite for natural resources drives 43% export jump, the G-7’s top growth rate

Canada’s exports to China may have “surged” during the first part of this year, but critics say Canadian trade with the Asian giant remains “pitifully” low and more must be done to diversify exports away from the United States.

According to yesterday’s Statistics Canada report, Canada’s merchandise exports to China in the first seven months of 2007 grew at “more than twice the pace of its imports” because of China’s voracious appetite for metals, energy, fertilizers and forestry products. The 43 per cent gain over last year’s period was the largest posted by any G-7 country, said author Diana Wyman.

“Canada is clearly benefiting from the magnitude of China’s demand for natural resources,” Wyman said. “The nation of more than 1.3 billion people is expanding its manufacturing base and building massive infrastructure projects, from ports and bridges to facilities for the 2008 Olympic Games.”

Exports to China nearly doubled to $8 billion between 2002 and 2006, the report added.

China and Japan are now tied “neck and neck” as Canada’s third-largest export markets, each with a 2 per cent share.

That compares with 76 per cent of our exports destined for the United States and 3.3 per cent for the United Kingdom.

David Detomasi, professor of international business at Queen’s University, said Canadian trade levels with China are very low, “so the fact that they’ve doubled doesn’t mean a great deal.”

To really tap China’s potential, Canadian companies must engage in more “inter-company trade” and that involves having a physical presence there to work with those firms.

“We do a lot of exporting of rocks, wood and oil but we don’t do a lot of the company stuff,” Detomasi said.

Chinese demand for those natural resources has also helped fuel the loonie’s meteoric rise. The currency cracked $1.10 (U.S.) earlier this week, but yesterday declined for the second-straight session.The current U.S. economic slowdown shows the need for Canada to deepen trade relationships with other countries, Detomasi said.

While the U.S. dwarfs other markets, China is leading Canada’s trade diversification, Wyman said. Between 2002 and 2007, the share of Canadian exports to countries other than America increased from 16 per cent to 24 per cent on contributions from all provinces.

“Ontario’s exports to countries other than the United States posted the largest gain of any province, rising nearly $20 billion since 2002,” the report said. “Ontario’s auto sector may have slowed, but the overseas demand for its nickel, gold, and uranium resources, as well as aircraft, high-tech and other machinery, is on the rise.”

However, a separate report yesterday cast a more clouded outlook for Ontario’s exports. Citing the strong dollar and weak U.S. growth, the Conference Board of Canada’s latest provincial outlook said Ontario’s economy would average growth of just 2.5 per cent for the next two years.

“The auto industry will remain sluggish as vehicle sales south of the border are expected to falter to a nine-year low,” the report said. “The fallout from the subprime mortgage crisis has dampened U.S. consumer spending, limiting growth in exports.”

Also yesterday, U.S. Federal Reserve chair Ben Bernanke warned U.S. economic growth could prove weaker than expected while the slumping greenback could make imported goods more expensive.

(c) TheStar.com

OTTAWA — The rate of Canadian exports to China surpassed that of any other G7 country, and this year put China neck-and-neck with Japan as Canada’s third largest export market.

According to a recent report by Stats Canada in the Canadian Economic Observer, Canada’s exports to China surged 43 percent in 2007 from the same period in 2006, while its imports from the Asian powerhouse rose only 17 percent.

Merchandise exports to China in the first seven months of this year have grown at more than twice the pace of its imports on the strength of the Asian giant’s demand for Canada’s natural resources. Accelerating Chinese demand, combined with higher world prices for metals, potash and canola, boosted industrial goods and agricultural exports. China also became Canada’s number two export market for crude oil.

Canada is clearly benefiting from the magnitude of China’s demand for natural resources, says StatsCan. The nation of more than 1.3 billion people is expanding its manufacturing base and building massive infrastructure projects, from ports and bridges to facilities for the 2008 Olympic Games.

China Leads Canada Trade Diversification:

Increasing exports to Asia, and to a lesser extent, to Europe, resulted in nearly one-quarter (24%) of Canada’s exports headed to non-US destinations in 2007, compared with 16 percent just five years ago.

The recent shift to increased trade with the rest of the world was well-timed, reports StatsCan, given the onset of the housing-induced slowdown south of the border.

All regions of Canada have benefited from this shift in exports toward non-US countries. In the cases of Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, and Newfoundland and Labrador, the growth was more than sufficient to offset declining exports to the United States.

For British Columbia, Manitoba, Saskatchewan and New Brunswick, exports to non-US countries boosted overall exports beyond the more moderate growth in shipments to the United States.

Alberta was the only province not to show an increased share of its exports shipped to countries other than the U.S. — mainly because exports south of the border are growing as fast as those to non-US countries, thanks to crude oil, Alberta’s main export stateside.

Import Growth More Restrained:

Since 2002, China’s share of Canada’s imports has tripled to nearly 10 percent of total imports. However, such imports grew only 17 percent over the first seven months of 2007 compared to last year, because values have been dampened by the stronger Canadian loonie vis-à-vis the Chinese currency.

© 2007 Newcom Business Media Inc.
All Rights Reserved.

PRESS RELEASE

SkinnyFish Media announces historic launch of Chinese-language oil magazine

CALGARY, AB – SkinnyFish Media Inc., publishers of Alberta Oil magazine, has become the first Canadian company to launch a commercial, Chinese-language publication in the People’s Republic of China. In partnership with Chinese Petroleum & Chemical Industry Magazine Co. (CPCI), Canada Oil will provide Canadian-based oil & gas industry news and commentary for Chinese readers.

“Canada’s status as a global energy power means resource-hungry China is paying close attention to what we’re doing and Canada Oil gives the stakeholders of our energy sector a voice – in fact, a Chinese voice,” says SkinnyFish Media president Mike Dodd. “We will bring out the magazine twice the first year – in the spring and autumn. We will then evaluate the results before deciding whether to employ our option to convert to a quarterly format in 2009.”

CPCI, a media arm of the Chinese Petroleum & Chemical Industry Association, whose members – including the likes of CNPC and Sinopec – extend overriding control over China’s petroleum and petrochemical industries, will distribute Canada Oil as a supplement to its own publication, thereby reaching up to 100,000 readers per issue.

Editor-in-chief Sebastian Gault underscored the historic significance of the undertaking. “Canada is an emergent energy powerhouse. China is an emergent economic superpower. Our opportunity is to serve the huge need for an intelligence conduit between their energy industries.”

SkinnyFish Media has expanded its staff to enable Chinese translation and localization of advertising copy and editorial content. Information about each advertiser will be included in the magazine’s directory, which provides a Chinese-language industry guide for government, industry and academia in China.

For inquires, contact Sebastian Gault at 403-663-0083 or sgault@canadaoilmagazine.com.

Sydney Sharpe
Special to The Edmonton Journal

Monday, November 05, 2007

Despite our provincial wealth, Alberta often seems beset by the turmoil American historian William Leuchtenburg famously labeled as “the perils of prosperity.”

The many challenges of growth, from homelessness to environmental degradation, sometimes make wealth seem more a burden than a blessing.

We fret that it will all end with a sudden crash, plunging us into provincial poverty even before we’ve come to grips with prosperity.

But these challenges mask a stunning opportunity for the province. Alberta has both the wealth and the duty to become the world leader in the planet’s next boom industry — environmental technology. To achieve this, the province needs to invest wisely and focus clearly on the specific goal of stimulating environmental industries.

Our knowledge of many kinds of specialized carbon production from coal, natural gas, conventional oil, and now the oilsands, gives us the world’s best chance to find ways to limit greenhouse gas emissions by perfecting clean coal, carbon sequestration and other technologies.

The effort should also be extended to environmental leadership in many other areas, including the science and management of watersheds, land use and boreal forests.

Alberta companies could then export the knowledge and technology, creating a sustainable prosperity that will make today’s provincial boom seem primitive by comparison. There will be huge markets for such solutions when countries like India and China inevitably see the need to limit their own rapidly growing greenhouse gas emissions.

Alberta already has a successful model for public stimulation of a major industry — the Alberta Oil Sands Technology and Research Authority (AOSTRA). With a mandate to reduce costs, increase recovery and improve environmental acceptability, the authority was given

$1 billion in government money

between 1976 and 1999.

That seed money eventually helped generate $140 billion in oil sands investment — making AOSTRA, arguably, the most successful industry-creating agency in Canadian history.

AOSTRA’s main mandate was to make oilsands production commercially

viable. Now the same kind of effort should immediately be directed to environmental technology.

The government is groping toward an approach to this. Initial efforts are promising, but so far there is no coherent public strategy.

Last spring, the province passed legislation to penalize heavy greenhouse gas emitters that produce more than 100,000 tonnes per year. The money — $15 per tonne over missed targets — will go into the Climate Change and Emissions Management Fund. Ottawa and the province are also funding an effort to research carbon sequestration.

This revenue will all be helpful, but the emitters’ fund is not sustainable because it’s basically an incentive for companies to lower emissions. Initial payments might reach the government’s prediction of $177 million a year, but they will decline.

The companies will surely come up with some ingenious solutions of their own, but there also needs to be a steady stream of research money channeled into a unified provincial effort.

The most logical source is the earnings generated by a permanent non-

renewable resource revenue fund.

With this money, the province should create a centre of excellence for

energy, environment and growth.

Its job would be to research current and future energy sources, develop emission solutions, and ensure a healthy, productive dynamic among industry, academia and the province.

The University of Calgary’s Institute for Sustainable Energy, Environment and Economy (ISEEE) should be a major player, as should the Energy Innovation Fund. The core goal would be to

research and discover new environmental technologies and reward best practices in every environmental area.

To move industries in that direction, the province also needs a regulatory

system with the clear goal of protecting the environment while stimulating investment, both in resource development and environmental technology.

To guide all this, the province should also establish a blue-ribbon Premier’s Panel on Environmental Progress (PPEP), with a mandate to propose policy and advance the agenda. PPEP’s key tasks would be to demonstrate Alberta’s leadership by massively reducing emissions at home, and fostering the world-class industry that will arise from this

effort. The panel should not be a debating forum on global warming or any other highly-charged issue; rather, it should be a practical body that identifies and encourages technologies and practices that protect the environment.

Most provinces and even countries rarely if ever have such an opportunity. Alberta now has this one in the palm of its hand, but must seize it quickly.

Sydney Sharpe is a Calgary-based author

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INVESTING WISELY

This is the eighth in a series of articles commissioned by the Canada West Foundation on ideas for investing part of Alberta’s current boom in resource royalties. In November, the CWF will publish longer versions of the articles in a book entitled Alberta’s Energy Legacy: Ideas for the Future.

It will be available for free download at www.cwf.ca on Nov. 22.

© The Edmonton Journal 2007