ARC ENERGY IDEAS

In the depths of the COVID pandemic, oilfield activity ground to a halt and service companies were forced to shrink.  While oilfield activity levels have rebounded significantly, they are still below the pre-pandemic peaks.  This week, Steve Glanville, President and Chief Operating Officer of STEP Energy Services and Shawn Martens, Co-Founder, VP of Operations at IronSight join the podcast. Here a...

The broad-based Invesco WilderHill Clean Energy ETF is off 60% from its peak in early 2021.  Riskier stocks on the clean energy spectrum have fallen even more.  For a more in-depth perspective, please see Peter’s commentary titled “What is Next for Clean Tech Companies” that explores how the beat-up equity markets will impact clean energy companies going forward and their strategies.  To start off...

Natural gas price has been climbing to near record highs in North America.  This week, Jackie and Peter talk about the reasons for high natural gas prices now. Longer term, North American gas markets are undergoing a structural change. To reduce their reliance on Russia, EU countries are turning towards new gas suppliers including the United States. Consequently, a US build-out of LNG export capac...

While the Battle of Alberta is front page news, this week Jackie and Peter take a break from hockey and talk about some other game-changing local headlines.   First, they talk about the political change with Premier Jason Kenney announcing that he is stepping down as leader of the United Conservative Party (UCP).   Next, an Alberta court found the Impact Assessment Act (formerly Bill C-69) to be u...

This week Heather Ferguson, Senior Vice President, Business Development, Strategy and Corporate Affairs with Ontario Power Generation (OPG) joins the podcast. OPG burned its last piece of coal in 2014 and has committed to being a net-zero company by 2040.  They have also expanded their generation assets beyond Ontario’s borders into the United States.  Here are some of the questions Peter and Jack...

This week we are delighted to have Stephen Poloz the former Governor of the Bank of Canada.  Stephen was the Bank’s Governor from June 2013 to June 2020 and was at the helm during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. Stephen just released a new book titled “The Next Age of Uncertainty” that outlines five tectonic forces that, when they interact together, will create more volatility and risk th...

This week John Gorman, President and Chief Executive Officer at the Canadian Nuclear Association (CNA) joins the podcast.  John recently wrote an op-ed titled “Examining the role of nuclear in Canada’s Emissions Reduction Plan.”   Here are some of the questions Peter and Jackie asked John: What is the scale and size of the new Small Modular Reactors (SMR)?  Is SMR technology safe?  What about the...

This week we welcome to the podcast Jared Dziuba, Oil & Gas Market Specialist, BMO Nesbitt Burns and Rachel Walsh, Carbon Innovation Analyst, BMO Nesbitt Burns. Jared and Rachel have authored several reports on the topic of CCS, including, “The Outer Limits: Exploring the Cost (Opportunity) of Canada’s Net Zero Pathways” and following the recent news of the federal tax credit for CCUS in Canad...

This week our guest is the Honourable Jonathan Wilkinson, Minister of Natural Resources. The Canadian federal government has recently released some important energy and climate policy, including the 2030 Emissions Reduction Plan and the Canadian Federal Budget 2022 . Here are some of the questions Peter and Jackie asked Minister Wilkinson: How achievable is Canada’s greenhouse gas reduction goal o...

This week Peter and Jackie talk about the recent developments in the oil markets, including the demand concerns from China’s recent COVID lockdowns, the large Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) release and OPEC plus decision to stick with a small increase in supply next month. They also consider the longer-term with Jackie’s recent commentary “History has a Lot to Say About Today’s Energy Shock.” B...

Last week Peter attended GLOBE Forum 2022 in Vancouver, British Columbia.  GLOBE Forum is Canada’s sustainability conference. At GLOBE, Peter and Tonja Leach, the executive director of Quest interviewed Tim Gould, the Chief Energy Economist at the IEA and we include a recording of their conversation on this podcast. Before that, Peter and Jackie discuss Canada’s 2030 Emissions Reduction Plan that...

This week our guest is Candyce Kelshall who has worked extensively with militaries and advising police forces around the world. Kelshall is currently the President of the Canadian Association for Security and Intelligence Studies (CASIS) –Vancouver , Adjunct Professor, Buckingham University Centre for Security and Intelligence Studies and Vice Chair at the Canadian Intelligence Network. Kelshall i...

On this week’s podcast, we interview Ian Anderson, the President and CEO of Trans Mountain Corporation on how the pipeline expansion project is progressing. The Trans Mountain Expansion Project is expected to transport oil to Canada’s west coast by late 2023. Here are some of the questions Peter and Jackie ask Ian Anderson: Are the legal challenges for the project done? What is the status of const...

This week Peter and Jackie talk about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.  What is the current situation with energy trade flows and markets due to the conflict? How much oil and gas supply could be cut off and what are the alternatives? Could Canadian energy supply help?  Will high oil prices and geopolitical concerns accelerate the energy transition? Also discussed:  Peter’s recent commentary titled “...

On this episode we welcome Murray Mullen, President and CEO of Mullen Group to the podcast. The Mullen group is one of Canada’s largest logistics providers. Here are some of the questions we asked Murray:  What is the situation today with COVID related supply chain bottlenecks? Is there a shortage of truck drivers? How has online shopping impacted supply chain issues? What is your outlook for oil...

This week Tyler Bryant, Strategic Advisor, Climate and Energy at FortisBC joins the podcast.  FortisBC delivers renewable energy, natural gas and electricity to customers in British Columbia. Here are some of the questions we asked Tyler:  What are the challenges of electrifying heating in Canada? What is renewable natural gas? How much renewable natural gas is possible? What is the potential carb...

With WTI oil prices over $90/B, Peter and Jackie update podcast listeners on the most recent oil market fundamentals. As a result of these higher prices, ARC has increased its estimates for Canadian industry revenue and cash flows. Finally, they discuss Jackie’s recent commentary “Turn out  the lights and other lessons on electricity consumption.”   This article was originally published  for Let’s...

This week we would like to share another podcast with you, called “Energy vs Climate.” The three hosts are David Keith, Sara Hastings-Simon and Ed Whittingham. Every two weeks the trio, along with their guests, break down the trade-offs and hard truths of the energy transition in Alberta, Canada, and beyond. This episode is a discussion from October 2021 on the challenges of decarbonizing the Avia...

Brent oil price is near $90/B now and WTI is not far behind. Peter and Jackie discuss the latest price moves and drivers. They also muse over the return of geopolitical tensions in the oil markets. While geopolitics have historically been a significant factor in the oil markets and price formation, over the past decade the impact has been more muted. Finally, they review the volatile equity market...

This week Catherine Cobden joins our podcast. Catherine is the President and CEO of the Canadian Steel Producers Association (CSPA). Canadian steel is already some of the lowest carbon product in the world and the industry has announced goals to achieve net-zero carbon dioxide emissions by 2050. Here are some of the questions we asked Catherine: What are some of the technologies that can reduce th...

On this episode, Peter and Jackie review the ARC Energy Research Institute’s recently released outlook for the Canadian oil and gas economy for 2022.  See the last page of our weekly ARC Energy Charts publication to review the 2022 estimate of revenue, cash flow and other metrics here . They also discuss a recent commentary by Peter titled “ Meet the New Boom, Different from the Last Boom ” that l...

Peter and Jackie start the year off by introducing seven topics that are likely to dominate energy and climate discussions in 2022:  Oil Price  Geopolitics  Elections  Inflation and the Economy  Sustainable Finance  Clean Energy Spending  Energy and Climate Policy in the US and Canada See Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s mandate letters: Minister of Environment and Climate Change and Minister of Na...

On this week’s podcast we look back on the big themes that shaped 2021 by reviewing our past podcasts. Peter and Jackie also revisit their 2021 predictions made at the start of the year to see how well they did. View the ARC SnapChart on the Global EV Sales Data for 2021: Strong Showing for EV Sales in 2021 View the report on the economic potential of the energy transition for Alberta commissioned...

This week our guest is Robert Hornung, the founding President and CEO of the Canadian Renewable Energy Association (CanREA). The industry group is the voice for wind energy, solar energy and energy storage solutions in Canada.  Recently CanREA released  "Powering Canada's Journey to Net-Zero: CanREA's 2050 Vision" which sets an aspiration for Canada’s wind and solar capacity to...

Last Friday, November 26, oil prices dropped $US 10/B after a new COVID variant named Omicron was discovered. The same day, the Canada Energy Regulator (CER) made a historic decision to deny Enbridge’s application to enter into long-term contracts for 90% of the Mainline oil pipeline. Jackie and Peter discuss the volatile oil markets, the possible impacts to global oil demand and the significance...