Dover, Fort Mckay, and a Marriage of Convenience.

Photo Credit: David P. Ball

Alot of eyes have been on the Dover/Fort Mackay lawsuit as a bell-weather for relations between industry and First Nations reserves going forward. Last week we got a resolution to the situation; but not alot of clarity.

Economics of Oil Sands vs. American Light Tight Oil

A Scotiabank report has been making it's rounds lately (cited here and here). It's an interesting snippet of information which cites "examination of more then 50 plays across Canada and the United States" as it's data set. We don't get a look at the methodology, but the claims are as follows:

In Canada, an average WTI oil price of US$63-65 per barrel is required to yield a 9% after-tax return on ‘full-cycle’ costs for the oil plays shown on page 1 compared with close to US$72 in the United States (based on costs in the Fall of 2013).

Interestingly, the article points to the plateauing production in the Permian Basin is plateauing. And a weak December in the Bakken according to NDRC data as outlined here by Ron Patterson at peakoilbarrel. Of course a singe data point is simply a single data point. But it does raise some interesting pricing and production possibilities for the future.

Americans telling people, who emit way less carbon... to emit less carbon.

Reuters: Kerry calls climate change 'weapon of mass destruction'

So that's an interesting title to read when you're sitting around waiting for Kerry to make his Keystone XL recommendation.

Swiss Immigration Referendum

A recent referendum that included a vote on an immigration initiative in Switzerland coincides nicely with my last post (here) on the Temporary Foreign Worker Program in Canada and the sentiments that surround these types of issues.

Canada's Temporary Foreign Worker Program

From this Huffington Post story: Canadian Oilsands Staff Fired, Reportedly Replaced With Foreign Workers.

FORT MCMURRAY, Alta. - The federal government is investigating an allegation that several dozen Canadians working in Alberta's oilpatch were laid off this week and replaced with foreign workers. 

A spokeswoman with Employment Minister Jason Kenney's office said Thursday that he has asked for an urgent review. 

The Alberta Federation of Labour said that 65 of its ironworkers were laid off on Tuesday. The workers' paystubs say they were being paid by a company called Pacer Promec Joint Venture. 

Federation president Gil McGowan said the employees were immediately dismissed from their jobs at Imperial Oil's (TSX:IMO) Kearl oilsands mine. 

"They called the guys into an office, told them that they were gone, and they literally walked past the replacements on the way out," McGowan said. 

He alleged the foreign workers from Croatia are making about $18 an hour — half the wage of the Canadians.

Keystone XL: Final Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (SEIS)

Photograph by Larry MacDougal, Canadian Press/AP

Well it's finally out.

Here's all you need to know: Obama now has his justification to approve the Keystone XL (the parameters of which I outlined here).