Will Gibson
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Articles by Will Gibson
Coastal GasLink pipeline deal gives five First Nations more control of their economic future
The Coastal GasLink pipeline went into commercial service in October 2024.
Coastal GasLink pipeline deal gives five First Nations more control of their economic future
Edmonton-based Phase Advanced Sensor Systems Corp. is receiving $375K from Emissions Reduction Alberta’s Drilling Technology Challenge to prove a high-temperature downhole pressure sensor for enhanced geothermal wells. Photo courtesy ERA By Will Gibson ‘The market opportunity for geothermal is worth billions and billions of dollars’ Drilling is one of the biggest costs facing geothermal developers, particularly in places where the hottest resources are far below the surface.
Excluded no more: Carbon capture incentives in Alberta-Canada energy accord could spur enhanced oil recovery
The federal government is following through on a key element of its energy accord with Alberta. In its spring economic update, Ottawa to extend the carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS) investment tax credit to projects that include enhanced oil recovery (EOR). EOR projects were notably excluded from Ottawa’s CCUS investment tax credit when it was rolled out in 2024.
Alberta caribou habitat gets a boost with surging revegetation of legacy seismic lines
Large-scale habitat restoration in Alberta is accelerating to support iconic caribou populations. The focus is on legacy seismic lines — straight, flattened clearings cut through the boreal forest decades ago for oil and gas exploration, often up to eight metres wide to accommodate large equipment. While today’s oil and gas operators no longer use these methods, the forest in many areas has struggled to regenerate on its own. Now, it’s got some help.
New Alberta technology funding boosts methane reduction efforts
Growing up in a small town in central Alberta, Blake Wickland saw what oil and gas companies contributed to the community. “They did so much in Drayton Valley – my minor hockey teams always had an energy or energy services company sponsor us — and I’m sure people who grew up in any small town in Alberta could say the same thing,” Wickland said.
Why routine oil tanker traffic draws little concern in Eastern and Atlantic Canada
Dan Knight January Labor Force Survey shows falling employment, shrinking manufacturing, and a weaker workforce hidden behind a lower unemployment rate On Friday, the federal government quietly released the latest Labor Force Survey, and buried in the numbers is a simple reality: Canada is losing steam. In January 2026, employment fell by 25,000 jobs and the employment rate slipped to 60.8%. That is not a booming labor market; that is a country slowly moving in the wrong direction.
Why routine oil tanker traffic draws little concern in Eastern and Atlantic Canada
A steady stream of more than 450 oil tankers calls at ports in Eastern and Atlantic Canada every year, drawing little public attention. That’s in part due to the industry’s safety record in the region, where accidents involving tankers are rare. The most recent serious pollution incident from an oil tanker took place in Nova Scotia more than 45 years ago, and the last recorded minor spill from a tanker occurred 25 years ago, following a grounding incident in Labrador.
McLeod Lake Indian Band joins leadership of First Nations Natural Gas Alliance
Indigenous communities across British Columbia are playing a critical role in building the foundation for LNG—from natural gas supply to pipeline corridors and export terminals—helping drive momentum as Canada’s LNG export sector takes its first steps. A growing role for McLeod Lake Indian Band One of these communities is the McLeod Lake Indian Band.
Alberta’s huge oil sands reserves dwarf U.S. shale
Investor interest in Canadian oil producers, primarily in the Alberta oil sands, has picked up, and not only because of expanded export capacity from the Trans Mountain pipeline. Enverus Intelligence Research says the real draw — and a major factor behind oil sands equities outperforming U.S. peers by about 40 per cent since January 2024 — is the resource Trans Mountain helps unlock. Alberta’s oil sands contain 167 billion barrels of reserves, nearly four times the volume in the United States.
Canada’s heavy oil finds new fans as global demand rises
Once priced at a steep discount to its lighter, sweeter counterparts, Canadian oil has earned growing admiration—and market share—among new customers in Asia. Canada’s oil exports are primarily “heavy” oil from the Alberta oil sands, compared to oil from more conventional “light” plays like the Permian Basin in the U.S. One way to think of it is that heavy oil is thick and does not flow easily, while light oil is thin and flows freely, like fudge compared to apple juice.
Halfway River First Nation makes history with Montney natural gas development deal
Greg Kist has seen plenty of change during more than three decades working in the energy industry. But the former executive with Petronas and Progress Energy has rarely experienced a history-making moment. That happened in July 2024, when the B.C. government awarded the Halfway River First Nation what’s known as oil and gas tenure in the heart of the Montney play.
Emissions cap will end Canada’s energy superpower dream
The negative economic impact of Canada’s proposed oil and gas emissions cap will be much larger than previously projected, warns a study by the Center for North American Prosperity and Security (CNAPS). The report concluded that the cost of the emissions cap far exceeds any benefit from emissions reduction within Canada, and it could push global emissions higher instead of lower.
New Calgary plant to produce luxury vinyl flooring with Alberta oil and gas
Carlos Soares has sold enough flooring to furnish all the residences, businesses and public facilities in a medium-sized city since starting Divine Flooring in 1999. But now the Calgary entrepreneur will expand into manufacturing luxury flooring using a key Alberta hydrocarbon that will create a more sustainable product and reduce reliance on imports.
Change at the top: meet Rob Morgan, new CEO of the Alberta Energy Regulator
Rob Morgan’s introduction to the energy business was a summer job in the Lloydminster region in 1985, when the University of Saskatchewan chemical engineering student got up close and messy with heavy oil production at the wellhead. “My work boots got very dirty very quickly. That’s the joke about working in heavy oil around Lloydminster. Once it’s on your boots, it never comes off,” says Morgan, a Saskatoon native.
Alberta union scales up training for pipe-layers, tower crane operators
Having learned to drive a tractor before he was old enough to shave, Allan Dakin started operating heavy equipment for a construction company around the same time he obtained his driver’s license. “I got into construction when I was 16,” says Dakin, who was born in Lac La Biche, Alta. but moved to Fort McMurray in the 1970s when his father got a job at the Great Canadian Oil Sands project, which is now Suncor Energy’s Base Plant. “Because I was a farm boy, I was comfortable around those machines.
Upgrades at Port of Churchill spark ambitions for nation-building Arctic exports
When flooding in northern Manitoba washed out the rail line connecting the Town of Churchill to the rest of the country in May 2017, it cast serious questions about the future of the community of 900 people on the shores of Hudson Bay. Eight years later, the provincial and federal governments have invested in Churchill as a crucial nation-building corridor opportunity to get resources from the Prairies to markets in Europe, Africa and South America.
Keyera ‘Canadianizes’ natural gas liquids with $5.15 billion acquisition
Sarnia, Ont., which sits on the southern tip of Lake Huron and peers across the St. Clair River to Michigan, is a crucial energy hub for much of the eastern half of Canada and parts of the United States.
Fort St. John residents challenge Suzuki Foundation over misleading Montney image
Twenty years ago during winter break from college in B.C.’s Fraser Valley, 19-year-old Deena Del Giusto decided to take a road trip north to Fort St. John, where one of her friends had just opened a beauty salon.
Indigenous partnership growing methane emissions reduction tech in the Montney play
Wayne Rothlisberger, a member of the Doig River First Nation in the heart of the massive Montney natural gas play, has spent three decades working in the energy sector. He’s now vice-president of business development with ÚÚJǪ Developments LP, the business arm of the northern B.C. Nation, and it’s a busy job. “ÚÚJǪ has seven equity partnerships in energy, aviation and banking, and we probably get two proposals a month given the interest in working in the Montney shale,” Rothlisberger says.
Why it’s time to repeal the oil tanker ban on B.C.’s north coast
In 2019, Martha Hall Findlay, then-CEO of the Canada West Foundation, penned a strongly worded op-ed in the Globe and Mail calling the federal ban of oil tankers on B.C.’s northern coast “un-Canadian.” Six years later, her opinion hasn’t changed. “It was bad legislation and the government should get rid of it,” said Hall Findlay, now director of the University of Calgary’s School of Public Policy.
Haisla Nation tugboats guide first LNG carrier into Kitimat, B.C.
Sinbad may have sailed the seven seas, but he never saw as much of the briny deep as Shawn Jones.
Energy projects occupy less than three per cent of Alberta’s oil sands region, report says
The footprint of energy development continues to occupy less than three per cent of Alberta’s oil sands region, according to a report by the Alberta Biodiversity Monitoring Institute (ABMI). As of 2021, energy projects impacted just 2.6 per cent of the oil sands region, which encompasses about 142,000 square kilometers of boreal forest in northern Alberta, an area nearly the size of Montana.
Alberta oil sands projects poised to grow on lower costs, strong reserves
As geopolitical uncertainty ripples through global energy markets, a new report says Alberta’s oil sands sector is positioned to grow thanks to its lower costs. Enverus Intelligence Research’s annual Oil Sands Play Fundamentals forecasts producers will boost output by 400,000 barrels per day (bbls/d) by the end of this decade through expansions of current operations.
First Nations in Manitoba pushing for LNG exports from Hudson’s Bay
Port Nelson, Manitoba in 1918. Photo courtesy NeeStaNan The Port Nelson site was earmarked by federal government engineers as the most cost-effective location for a terminal to ship Canadian resources overseas. Construction started but was marred by building challenges due to violent winter storms that beached supply ships and badly damaged the dredge used to deepen the waters around the port. By 1918, the project was abandoned.
Rural Ontario community celebrates being connected to natural gas for the first time
Dave Barton drives an electric vehicle and has solar panels on the roof of his family’s house. But the mayor of Uxbridge Township – equal parts bedroom community, farmland and greenbelt located about 45-minute drive northeast of Toronto – is an unabashed supporter of natural gas. “We are located in the Durham region, which is home to two nuclear plants in Pickering and Darlington.
Experts urge caution with Canadian energy in response to Trump tariffs
By Cody Ciona Clean Electricity Regulations put Alberta grid at risk for ‘minimal emissions reductions’ Alberta is at risk of power outages by the mid-2030s as a result of the federal government’s Clean Electricity Regulations (CER), says a new report by the Alberta Electric System Operator (AESO). The AESO’s analysis found the new regulations, which came into effect on January 1, will make the province’s electricity system more than 100 times less reliable by 2038.
Experts urge caution with Canadian energy in response to Trump tariffs
A lawyer by training, Gary Mar is also a keen student of history. And he recommends Canadians look at what happened when past U.S. administrations imposed tariffs on imports before jumping to add costs to Canadian energy. “President Richard Nixon imposed a 10 per cent tariff in 1971 and withdrew it after a few months because it caused so much pain for American consumers,” says Mar, CEO of the Canada West Foundation, who served as Alberta’s trade representative in Washington from 2007 to 2011.
Alberta extracting more value from oil and gas resources: ATB
By Will Gibson Investment in ‘value-added’ projects more than doubled to $4 billion in 2024 In the 1930s, economist Harold Innis coined the term “hewers of wood and drawers of water” to describe Canada’s reliance on harvesting natural resources and exporting them elsewhere to be refined into consumer products.
Alberta extracting more value from oil and gas resources: ATB
In the 1930s, economist Harold Innis coined the term “hewers of wood and drawers of water” to describe Canada’s reliance on harvesting natural resources and exporting them elsewhere to be refined into consumer products. Almost a century later, ATB Financial chief economist Mark Parsons has highlighted a marked shift in that trend in Alberta’s energy industry, with more and more projects that upgrade raw hydrocarbons into finished products.
Indigenous oil sands business leader Dave Tuccaro named to the Order of Canada
Even while working as a crane operator to help build and maintain oil sands facilities in the late 1970s, Dave Tuccaro always had an entrepreneurial bent. He started businesses including a janitorial services company, bought two taxis while working at sites, and owned an auto repair shop and a bakery at different times. In 1993 Tuccaro took over Neegan Development, with its small heavy equipment fleet and a contract at Syncrude’s Mildred Lake operation.
Report: Oil sands, Montney growth key to meet rising world energy demand
A new report on North American energy highlights the important role that Canada’s oil sands and Montney natural gas resources play in supplying growing global energy demand.
Alberta Indigenous energy ownership driving increased economic activity
In December 2023, the Alberta Indigenous Opportunities Corporation provided a $150 million loan guarantee to support the 12 Indigenous Communities of Wapiscanis Waseskwan Nipiy Limited Partnership (including the Peerless Trout First Nation) in financing an equity investment in oil and gas midstream infrastructure in the Clearwater play in Northern Alberta.
Alberta Indigenous energy ownership driving increased economic activity
Five pristine lakes sit in and around the Peerless Trout First Nation in the unbroken boreal forest of north-central Alberta about 200 kilometres north of Slave Lake. When asked about the fishing, Tyler Letendre smiles wryly. “It lives up to the name,” says the Nation’s director of operations and economic development officer.
Alberta rail hub doubling in size to transport plastic from major new carbon-neutral plant
Haulage bridge at Cando Rail & Terminals’ Sturgeon Terminal in Alberta’s Industrial Heartland, near Edmonton. Photo courtesy Cando Rail & Terminals By Will Gibson Cando Rail & Terminals to invest $200 million to support Dow’s Path2Zero petrochemical complex A major rail hub in Alberta’s Industrial Heartland will double in size to support a new carbon-neutral plastic production facility, turning the terminal into the largest of its kind in the country.
Alberta rail hub doubling in size to transport plastic from major new carbon-neutral plant
A major rail hub in Alberta’s Industrial Heartland will double in size to support a new carbon-neutral plastic production facility, turning the terminal into the largest of its kind in the country. Cando Rail & Terminals will invest $200 million at its Sturgeon Terminal after securing Dow Chemical as an anchor tenant for its expanded terminal, which will support the planned $8.9 billion Path2Zero petrochemical complex being built in the region northeast of Edmonton.
New petrochemical projects in Alberta meet economic and environmental objectives
When Dow, one of the world’s largest chemical producers, plans to commit billions to build a state-of-the-art new complex, it has a comprehensive checklist of factors to consider and a list of suitors around the globe competing for the investment. In 2023, after a lengthy review, Dow Canada president Diego Ordonez says Alberta made the most sense as the location for a new US$6.5-billion net-zero scope 1 and 2 emissions petrochemical complex.
AI-driven data centre energy boom ‘open for business’ in Alberta
Author: Kris Sims Taxes cost 48 cents per litre of gasoline CTF releases Gas Tax Honesty report The Canadian Taxpayers Federation is calling for gas tax cuts in Alberta as the CTF releases its Gas Tax Honesty Report. “Alberta used to lead the country in low fuel taxes, but that award goes to Manitoba now,” said Kris Sims, CTF Alberta Director during a press conference in Calgary.
Alberta Electric System Operator working with at least six new proposed projects
By Deborah Jaremko and Will Gibson Data centres - the industrial-scale technology complexes powering the world's growing boom in artificial intelligence - require reliable, continuous energy. And a lot of it. "Artificial Intelligence is the next big thing in energy, dominating discussions at all levels in companies, banks, investment funds and governments," says Simon Flowers, chief analyst with energy consultancy Wood Mackenzie.
AI-driven data centre energy boom ‘open for business’ in Alberta
Data centres – the industrial-scale technology complexes powering the world’s growing boom in artificial intelligence – require reliable, continuous energy. And a lot of it. “Artificial Intelligence is the next big thing in energy, dominating discussions at all levels in companies, banks, investment funds and governments,” says Simon Flowers, chief analyst with energy consultancy Wood Mackenzie.
Analyst says LNG Canada likely to start exports before year-end
A worker at Trans Mountain’s Burnaby Terminal. Photo courtesy Trans Mountain Corporation By Deborah Jaremko Chinese refiner pays about US$10 more for oil off TMX compared to sales value in Alberta Canada’s oil sands producers are “back in the limelight” for investors following completion of the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion, according to a report by Enervus Intelligence Research.
Analyst says LNG Canada likely to start exports before year-end
Momentum is building for the long-awaited start-up of Canada’s first liquefied natural gas (LNG) export project. Shipments from the LNG Canada terminal at Kitimat, B.C. may now start earlier than expected, later this year rather than mid-2025, according to Martin King, Canadian energy specialist with Houston-based RBN Energy. “LNG Canada appears to be on the cusp of its testing phase and is likely to be exporting some cargoes of LNG before the end of this year,” King wrote recently.
New $1 billion pipeline deal spreads Indigenous ownership through Alberta, B.C. and Saskatchewan
By Will Gibson ‘We are writing the history of tomorrow today, not living the outcomes of our forefathers’ In a landmark agreement announced July 30, a consortium of up to 72 Indigenous communities in Alberta, British Columbia and Saskatchewan will buy a 5.34 per cent stake in TC Energy’s NGTL natural gas network. The agreement is backed by a $1 billion loan guarantee from the Alberta Indigenous Opportunities Corporation (AIOC).
New $1 billion pipeline deal spreads Indigenous ownership through Alberta, B.C. and Saskatchewan
In a landmark agreement announced July 30, a consortium of up to 72 Indigenous communities in Alberta, British Columbia and Saskatchewan will buy a 5.34 per cent stake in TC Energy’s NGTL natural gas network. The agreement is backed by a $1 billion loan guarantee from the Alberta Indigenous Opportunities Corporation (AIOC).
Canada’s emerging LNG industry creates new opportunities for Indigenous communities
There is a winter spiritual tradition among the members of the Gitxaala Nation of taking a plunge into dark, swirling waters of the Pacific Ocean off Dolphin Island in northern British Columbia, their ancestral home for tens of thousands of years. “Cold water baths is one of our ways. It feels like millions of needles hitting you at once when you jump into the ocean,” says Chief Clifford White, a hereditary leader and former elected chief councillor of the Gitxaala Nation.
Perspective | Building community engagement and transforming school culture with shared leadership
Around the start of the pandemic, I, like every other school leader in the country, sought ways to empower teachers to be confident in a virtual learning environment and ensure students received the education they needed. It was the right time to implement a shared leadership model to open lines of communication, sustain student engagement, and even increase teacher retention. Several years later, we’re back to in-person learning, and our shared leadership model is in full swing.
Emissions reducing cogeneration project nears finish line in Alberta’s oil sands
Suncor Energy is nearing completion of its upgraded cogeneration project, providing a boost to Alberta’s electrical grid while reducing emissions intensity for the oil sands giant. The $1.4 billion Coke Boiler Replacement Project is swapping out three aging petroleum coke-fired boilers with two high-efficiency natural gas cogeneration units at Suncor’s Base Plant, 25 kilometres north of Fort McMurray. Cogeneration units are crucial cog for oil sands operations.
LNG leader: Haisla Nation Chief Councillor Crystal Smith on the world’s first Indigenous project
Haisla Nation Chief Councillor Crystal Smith during a press conference announcing that the Cedar LNG project has been given environmental approval in Vancouver, Tuesday March 14, 2023. CP Images photo By Will Gibson ‘Now we are working together to make our own opportunities as owners and developers of the resource’ Growing up in the 1980s, Crystal Smith felt supported and nourished by her community, the Haisla Nation along the shores of Kitimat, British Columbia.
LNG leader: Haisla Nation Chief Councillor Crystal Smith on the world’s first Indigenous project
For years tech giants have been helping climate catastrophists shut down reliable fossil fuel electricity, falsely claiming they can be replaced by solar/wind. Now the grid they’ve helped gut can’t supply their growing AI needs.¹ For the last decade, tech giants such as Apple, Microsoft, Meta, and Google have, through dedicated anti-fossil-fuel propaganda and political efforts, promoted the shutdown of reliable fossil fuel power plants in favor of unreliable solar and wind.
LNG leader: Haisla Nation Chief Councillor Crystal Smith on the world’s first Indigenous project
Growing up in the 1980s, Crystal Smith felt supported and nourished by her community, the Haisla Nation along the shores of Kitimat, British Columbia. But at the same time, she also sensed the outside world had placed some limitations on her future. “I enjoyed a wonderful childhood with a solid foundation and lots of love, especially from my grandma Cecilia Smith. She raised me because I lost my mother and stepdad at a young age. But it wasn’t popular to be Indigenous when I grew up,” says Smith.
Game changer: Trans Mountain pipeline expansion complete and starting to flow Canada’s oil to the world
By According to a report, Canada’s mail service notified the Trudeau government via a letter that it would not participate in the buyback scheme, citing safety concerns for its employees.
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