Economist says Alberta must sell oilsands better
Province urged to fight misinformation
Alberta must better deliver the message that its growing oilsands production is an increasingly significant source of global oil and correct rising misinformation or face further risk tied to environmental opposition, energy economist Daniel Yergin told a business luncheon on Tuesday.
Yergin, the chairman of U.S. energy consultancy IHS CERA, put the onus on Alberta Premier Alison Redford and other key players in the energy sector.
“It’s not just Washington,” Yergin said, addressing an audience of more than 100 — including energy industry chief executives, bankers and academics.
“There is not a recognition of the role of Alberta, how big a role it is, and it is a global role,” he said, stating that the latest production numbers show oilsands output has tripled since 2000.
“I remember when it was a very fringe source.”
New urgency to bring Alberta’s landlocked crude by pipeline to southern markets, the result of high gasoline prices during a presidential election campaign, makes it an opportune time to tackle two key perennial questions around energy, as they relate to the oilsands: price and environmental footprint, he said.
Characterizing the strategy as “man-to-man defence,” Yergin pushed proponents to dispel views that oilsands bitumen is much more carbonintensive than other sources of crude.
“You’re talking about five to 15 per cent more carbon and going down,” said Yergin, whose company was the first to prepare a study suggesting oilsands bitumen is marginally more greenhouse gas intensive, on a life cycle basis, than other crudes — an assertion some environmental groups have rejected.
A decision on the Alberta-toTexas Keystone XL pipeline, which was first delayed and then answered with a “no” from U.S. President Barack Obama, was a “political litmus test” of the views of Democrat donors and supporters on the oilsands, he said.
Yergin was invited to speak by the University of Calgary’s School of Public Policy, through a lecture series sponsored by Imperial Oil Ltd.
Imperial Oil chief executive Bruce March said in an interview that industry has been waging public relations war over the oilsands for about three years and must sustain its messaging around land impacts, water use compared with other industries and other issues.
“We’re probably never going to be able to get over the visual land impact of an openpit mine but we try and point out what copper mines look like, what open-pit coal mines look like, gold mines are just as big. It’s not just oilsands,” March said.
Jack Mintz, director of the school of public policy, said mudslinging aimed at the oilsands during the U.S. election must be addressed, through visits south of the border by independent voices, not just politicians and industry.
“It’s really important when people are talking about Keystone, talking about these issues, that we get down there and really give a fair point of view,” Mintz said.
On the day after her reelection, Redford said she’s working to frame the oilsands in a national light as an economic driver, and has had discussions with Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver about that.
“There are some interesting ideas we are going to be able to pursue that are going to allow us to talk about energy as it should be talked about, in the best interests of the country,” Redford told reporters in Calgary, noting the province will continue advocating for the U.S. approval of Keystone XL through representatives in Washington and Chicago.