ARC ENERGY IDEAS

This week we interview John Redfern, the President and CEO of Eavor. His company has invented a novel way for harvesting the earth’s geothermal energy based, in part, on their knowledge from drilling oil and gas wells. The solution is called the Eavor-Loop. The technology overcomes many of the issues that have hampered traditional applications. For instance, it is not limited to niche geographies...

Corporations and financiers are making big climate commitments. First, we look at Cenovus Energy’s new net-zero 2050 commitment. The oil sands producer joins a club of other Canadian producers with big reduction targets.  Meanwhile, Microsoft announced the most ambitious corporate reduction goal yet, to be net-negative in a decade and by 2050 to remove all of their historical emissions dating back...

This week we interview Doug Suttles, President and CEO of Encana (soon to be Ovintiv). On January 14, 2020 Encana shareholders voted in favour to change the company’s name and to move corporate headquarters from Calgary to Denver. When the plan was first announced last fall, the decision fueled frustration in Alberta creating a vocal reaction from industry leaders and politicians. Doug explains th...

This podcast reflects on 2019 to consider the big themes from the year. Next we look forward to think about what 2020 could bring. We reference Canadian oil and gas industry revenue and cash flow in this episode, see more information on the final page of our weekly ARC Energy Charts publication. Related to this podcast, see ARC Commentary “ Big Questions for 2020 .” Please review our disclaimer at...

This episode was recorded on December 11th at the Young Women in Energy (YWE) Awards in Calgary.  We began by discussing why recognition and the sense of community for women in energy is important.  Next, we covered some of the pressing issues in energy and the type of leadership and diversity that is required to navigate these challenges. Katie Smith, the Executive Director of YWE joined us to as...

First we talk about the unveiling of the Tesla Cybertruck. Love it or hate it, you have to admit that Elon Musk puts on a good show. Musk takes a page from past pioneers of new ideas. These entrepreneurs recognized some bravado is needed to get people excited about revolutionary new products. Peter Tertzakian’s Energyphile.org project demonstrates this with the audio story of Max Valier, an early...

How long do energy transitions take? What is the potential for natural gas and Canadian LNG in the global energy transition?  What is the perception of Canadian energy internationally?  These are just some of the questions we asked Maria van der Hoeven. Van der Hoeven is a former Dutch politician that headed the International Energy Agency from 2011 to 2015. Under her leadership the IEA expanded i...

Seta Afshordi, Chief Operating Officer at Proton Technologies, says yes!  Seta explains how reactions in the oil reservoir can liberate the hydrogen while keeping the carbon emissions trapped. Hydrogen has long been viewed as a critical fuel in the transition to a low carbon economy due to its flexibility - it can replace natural gas  or be converted into electricity to power everything from wheel...

This week we explain the pitch in Saudi Aramco’s 653 page prospectus and why the Initial Public Offering (IPO) is a big deal.  Also covered in the show are themes from the tsunami of third quarter financial results from oilfield service firms and producers.  Finally, most outlooks for US oil production growth are being revised down, why and what are the implications? Here is a link for the Saudi A...

This year has been a difficult one for Canada’s oil and gas workers, capital spending is down and there are concerns about next year too.  In this episode we follow the Fiscal Pulse of the industry, to understand how money is made and spent, and to diagnose the reasons for less capital investment. In this episode we reference three charts – the ARC Fiscal Pulse, shareholder dividends and buybacks,...

Canadians elected a Liberal minority government on October 21.  On this episode we break down the voting results regionally. Next, we look at the history of past minority governments.  Finally, we review the Liberal’s energy and environment election platform as a guide for what could happen next. See related ARC Commentary “Majority Rules: Unless it is a Minority.” Please review our disclaimer at:...

Imagine if crude oil production and use resulted in low, or even no net greenhouse gas emissions?  This is not a Jetson-style idea, it will soon be a reality in Alberta.  This week we hear from Kevin Jabusch, the CEO of Enhance Energy. His company will inject CO2 into an enhanced oil recovery project using carbon dioxide delivered via the 240 km Alberta Carbon Trunk Line.  Tune into hear about thi...

This week’s podcast gives our take on some significant government and regulatory changes with positive implications for Western Canadian oil and gas markets. Two decisions were made by the Canada Energy Regulator (CER) at the end of September; (1) a change in the policy for operating Western Canada’s dominant regional natural gas gathering system; and(2), the suspension of Enbridge’s commercial pr...

This week we interview David Smethurst who is the Chief Technology Officer for Energy at Hitachi Vantara. His division is headquartered in Silicon Valley, where buzzwords such as ‘big data’, ‘data optimization’, and ‘digital solutions’are more than just water cooler conversation.   Tune in to hear David explain the evolution of digital over the last few years, and describe some specific use cases...

Tune into this weeks episode where we discuss some of the headlines from New York City Climate Week including the speech from Greta Thunberg at the United Nations, and the importance of dealing with hydrocarbon consumption not just supply. And while New York is talking zero emissions, recent Electric Vehicle (EV) sales are starting to slow. We review the latest data, breaking out the sales figures...

The oil markets take for granted that Saudi Arabia’s spare capacity will cover any unplanned outages. The events of the past week have changed that with 5.7 MMB/d of Saudi production shut down abruptly from a drone attack.  We discuss the situation, the potential for further escalation in the region, as well as the possible implications for oil demand and Canadian energy security. We also cover th...

This week we interview Eric Nuttall, Partner and Senior Portfolio Manager from Ninepoint Partners. While many investors have fled, Eric is a rare breed that is still actively investing in public oil and gas equities.  Tune in to hear Eric explain the sell off of oil and gas equities over the last several years, with many share prices now sitting at all time lows.  The discussion covers a range of...

This week we discuss Enbridge's proposal to change their Mainline pipeline from 100 percent open for all shippers to 90 percent contracted - leaving only 10 percent available for everyone else. This monumental change is concerning, especially considering that the Mainline makes up 70% of all Canadian oil pipelines and the region is chronically short capacity.  Producers that represent half of...

This episode was recorded live on July 9th at the Scotiabank Stampede Event held in Calgary. On the podcast we analyze the results from audience polling questions, including: Are Canadian oil and gas equities fairly valued? What is the biggest issue facing the Canadian oil and gas industry? How fast will American oil supply grow? Is there a future for Canadian public junior and intermediate oil an...

This week we interview Pat Carlson CEO of Kiwetinohk Resources Corp. Pat has founded a number of successful Western Canadian entrepreneurial companies including; Passage Energy, Krang Energy, North American Oil Sands and Seven Generations. Pat had foresight by entering the oil sands and shale gas developments at an early stage. His latest venture is focused on the Duvernay play. Pat explains his p...

This week we interview Steve Laut the Executive Vice Chairman of Canadian Natural Resources that has risen to be Canada's largest oil and gas producer aided by recent acquisitions, including purchasing Shell Canada and Devon's oil sands assets. Steve explains that oil sands are no longer high cost or high carbon and more improvements are coming with CNRL’s aspirational goal to reach net...

Canadians take for granted that they have energy security. But on this week’s podcast we argue that Canada could be one of the least energy secure countries in the world when it comes to oil. The pipeline that connects Western Canada’s oilfields with Ontario and Quebec flows through the United States.  Now the State of Michigan wants to shut down this critical Enbridge Line 5 pipeline connection....

This week we introduce the need for new plan for reducing global GHG emissions, since the current one, that envisions a fast switch from fossil fuels to renewables is proving to be unrealistic. The recently published International Energy Agency World Energy Investment 2019 report illustrates why the current plan is not working; investment into renewables has plateaued at best; energy efficiency is...

On this week’s episode we interview Barbara Zvan, Director, Chief Risk & Strategy Officer for the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan. Barbara is a member of the Canadian Government’s Expert Panel on Sustainable Finance. After over one year of consulting with a diverse cross section of leaders and experts, the panel has released their final recommendations for increasing the amount of sustainable i...

Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) focused investors have moved mainstream.  On this week’s episode we interview Patrick Bryden, Director, Equity Research at Scotiabank. Pat coauthored a must-read report titled “The Rise of ESG in Investment Research – In Search of the Right Elements”. His report makes a compelling case for ESG focused investing, referencing research that shows meaningful...