The Last Boom: Alberta's fossil fuel future

the last decade has been a tumultuous time in Alberta the energy industry shed tens of thousands of jobs when oil prices slumped back in 2014. today Energy prices have soared to record levels but the jobs haven't returned at a major shift in government policy around resource development has left the industry wondering where it is going next even if Canada wanted to send Western Natural Gas by ship to Europe there is no pipeline to get it to the east coast cut off from new markets and feeling the squeeze from climate change Canada's energy sector is in the midst of a major transformation as it tries to forge ahead he grew up on a family farm near Hannah Alberta but after high school Ryan Corey chose to work in oil and gas I started pipe fitting and working in the oil industry so I just followed that career path and eventually got me into operating almost 20 -year career has seen a lot of ups and downs booms and busts a game and a game but this time this boom was not felt the same it's booming like crazy but it's hard to tell you know oils skyrocketing and you just you don't see it like from the other turnarounds and they'll use it to separate uh the oil from the gas Kevin krausert Knows Why up until recently krausert was the CEO of Canada's largest privately owned drilling company but then he says the industry began experiencing an undeniable shift this was no longer cyclical the sector's entire structure had begun to change you know the last downturn sort of in the 2015 and 2016 era um I think was unique because more than just it being a price cycle there were drum beats of decarbonization rise in greenhouse gas emissions triggered a shift in Ottawa away from traditional energy back in Calgary that shift sent shockwaves through the industry and then you had a divestment movement of many institutional investors from the oil and gas industry decreasing the value of a lot of oil gas companies and I think it's the existential uh crisis of our time the war in Ukraine and Europe's desperation to replace Russian energy would have been seen 20 years ago as an opportunity for Alberta to step in and help but not this time I think you know many players in the world are playing chess and we seem to be playing checkers Arn Whitakers started in the Alberta energy patch but left after prices and investment collapsed he went to Qatar as an advisor on their massive LNG expansion 75 000 jobs that pay a hundred thousand dollars or more I mean that's a huge bite could we become a you know a natural gas super power in the short term no I don't think we could who's going to invest in Alberta in a natural gas field if you can't get it to Market that will run a series of very browser decided to stay but in 2020 he left the company his grandfather founded 80 years ago you will now find him in this building how could we reduce ghg emissions from sag B production for oil sands producers the downtown Calgary high-rise headquarters of the energy transition Center we envision it to work as a data Gathering Solution on Thursday afternoons you'll find it full of Engineers day to day they're employed by suncorp Enbridge TC energy and others but every week they come together to work on a goal to decarbonize the industry and fast we're looking into a novel carbon storage technology so trying to trying to help solve some of the challenges around ccus projects and moving those forward CC us carbon capture utilization and storage is a proven but expensive technology it involves taking carbon out of the atmosphere and storing it in the ground the largest oil sands producing companies pledged to get to net zero emissions by 2050 using this technology remember that for companies like ours we're used to actually creating and producing something that we then sell taking something and putting it in the ground doesn't actually generate revenue and so an awful lot of this kind of infrastructure is not Revenue generating this was the Prime Minister last fall we need to bring people along support them in the jobs they need to have but also lower our mission so we get to Net Zero indeed the largest energy companies in this country are committed to Net Zero by 2050. and the way to do that is to all of us work together but when energy companies ask the government for direct financial support to build the carbon capture pipeline they were told no by the new environment Minister Stephen kibow we think that these companies with making record level profit should invest as well on the one hand we're hearing that there's encouragement for the oil and gas sector to produce more so that we can get that energy that's needed in Europe over there and on the other hand we're hearing at the same time emissions have to be reduced those two things can happen at the same time but it has to be done in a thoughtful way these oil sands companies have come together and put together a strategy that makes them look like they're part of the solution and that's what the oil science pathway is and they're doing it so that it can Lobby government and they can get more subsidies Julia Levin is with environmental defense she says public dollars are better spent on clean energy projects instead of ccus the ipcc has warned don't rely on carbon capture and storage it is the most expensive least effective form of emissions reductions don't rely on it the invasion of Ukraine is definitely demonstrating that countries cannot be complacent in terms of where their energy comes from but with the world likely to remain dependent on fossil fuels for at least the next decade or more for the sake of global emissions Kevin crossert says the opportunity to decarbonize Canada's current industry cannot be ignored how do we as we build resilience into a global Energy Mix choose energy producing partners that not just are investing heavily in decarbonization initiatives and planning on leading the energy transition but also are producing it in a way that is responsible and in line with with the values we've hold deared for decades

Channel: Global News

Views: 40,222

Keywords: global news, Energy, energy crisis, European energy crisis, Ukraine, Russia, Ukraine war, Ukraine conflict, gas, Russian gas, natural gas, energy war, energy supply, pipeline, Alberta, Trans Mountain pipeline, oil sands, Alberta oil, climate change, climate targets, CO2 targets, carbon capture

Id: Fjv4Exji_2o

Length: 7min 4sec (424 seconds)

Published: Sat Sep 24 2022