ARC ENERGY IDEAS

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...

This week our guest is Andrew Weaver. He is a climate scientist, professor at the University of Victoria, and former leader of the British Columbia Green Party. Here are some of the questions we asked Andrew: Why did you decide to become a politician? Is climate change contributing to BC’s extreme weather this year? How obtainable is the goal of limiting global warming to 1.5ºC? You have publicly...

This week Larry Burns joins our podcast. Larry is a Business Advisor on Mobility, Logistics, Manufacturing, Energy and Innovation—in short, he is a guru in the area of self-driving vehicles and mobility. Here are some of the questions we asked Larry:  What level of autonomous driving has been achieved? Do people want fully autonomous vehicles? How would self-driving work for long distance heavy ha...

We start this week’s podcast sharing thoughts on the first week of the COP26 climate conference currently underway in Glasgow, Scotland. Highlights include the major goals of the conference and the announcement of a major initiative to mobilize private finance led by Mark Carney. We also cover the recent price inflation for oil and gas, including OPEC+, US shale oil and the importance of winter we...

This week, Dr. Arthur Turrell, author of the recently published book “The Star Builders – Nuclear Fusion and the Race to Power the Planet” joins the podcast. Arthur has a PhD in plasma physics and writes about fusion energy in a way that makes sense for the average person. Here are some of the questions Peter and Jackie asked Arthur: What are the advantages of fusion energy? How does it differ fro...

On this week’s episode we interview Barbara Zvan, inaugural President and CEO of the University Pension Plan in Ontario. Barb is recognized as a leading voice on sustainable investing and was appointed to  the Canadian Government’s Expert Panel on Sustainable Finance that released recommendations for increasing the amount of sustainable investment in Canada in 2019. Barbara tell us about a new ini...

This week, Matthew J. Sagers, Vice President at IHS Markit and head of the Russian and Caspian Energy Advisory service joins the podcast. Here are some of the questions we asked Matt Sagers: Why is the Nord Stream 2 pipeline so controversial? Why isn’t Russia ramping-up its natural gas exports to help Europe? Will the high prices for energy now accelerate the energy transition or slow it down? How...

In this week’s podcast, Peter and Jackie talk about why the lack of charging infrastructure in North America is holding back the adoption of electric vehicles (EV). The charging problem is amplified because Canada and the United States do not mandate a standard electrical plug-in. Read Jackie’s commentary “Canada EV Mass Adoption: Are We There Yet?” Please review our disclaimer at: https://www.arc...

Europe is heading into winter with historically low inventories of natural gas. The scarcity has driven up the global prices of every type of energy, including natural gas, coal and oil. Despite the rising commodity prices, energy supply has not been growing. On this week’s podcast, Jackie and Peter discuss the European energy crisis and the lessons it provides for energy security and energy trans...

On this week’s Podcast, Jackie and Peter discuss how inflation and affordability have come into the spotlight. How is inflation measured and how much has it increased? What is the connection between oil price and inflation? And, if a more sustained period of inflation were to occur, what are the implications? See Peter’s recent commentary “A New Episode of the Oil Cycle: Inflation.” Please review...

As you got out of bed this morning and flicked on the lights and coffee maker, how many of you thought about where the electricity came from? Scott Thon, the CEO of AltaLink and President and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway Energy Canada is our guest this week. Scott helps explain what is going on with the grids and wires we rely on, today and in the future. Here are some of the questions we asked Scott...

Few in Canada know the pioneering work of Geoffrey Ballard and his Vancouver based fuel cell company called Ballard Power. Founded in 1979, it’s now recognized as one of the pre-eminent manufacturers of fuel cells in the world today. This week, the President & CEO of Ballard Power, Randy MacEwen joins our podcast. Here are some of the questions we asked Randy MacEwen: What is Ballard’s fuel ce...

The ARC podcast is back! This week we cover some of the big news over the summer break, including Canada’s upcoming federal election, the extreme weather experienced this past summer and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s (IPCC) sixth climate report. Canadians head to the polls on September 20th in the federal election. What are the big election issues? What is expected for climate an...

In this episode we showcase Peter’s new Energyphile story “Reinventing the Wheel”. What can companies facing radical disruption today learn from history? The McLaughlin Carriage Company was a leader in high-end carriages. Yet at the peak of its game, it started manufacturing automobiles. It’s a rare company that would, or could, make such a pivot — and so successfully. McLaughlin went on to become...

Responding to a very large number of carbon sequestration inquiries, the Alberta Government issued an Information Letter that proposes a centralized hub model for storing carbon in the province. This week, Tristan Goodman, the President of the Explorers and Producers Association of Canada (EPAC) joins the podcast to offer his perspective on Carbon Capture Utilization and Storage (CCUS) policy. In...

As the world embarks on re-piping and re-wiring energy systems in the pursuit of decarbonization, the plan should be to make the future energy infrastructure more secure than the past. This week on the podcast, Jackie and Peter review several energy security learnings from history. In the pursuit of the best economics, often energy security is ignored.  These vulnerabilities create problems later...

Canadian oil sands companies are typically rivals, but now they have announced a collective project for achieving net zero GHG emissions by 2050. Producers that account for 90% of oil sands production - Canadian Natural Resources, Cenovus Energy, Imperial, MEG Energy and Suncor Energy - have announced the “Oil Sands Pathways to Net Zero” initiative. This week, our guests –  Rhona DelFrari, Chief S...