...Alberta’s Oil Sands: Are They Really That Bad? College Communications – Section 106 Friday, November 26, 2010 Alberta’s Oil Sands: Are They Really That Bad? One of the most recent topics related to the environment and how poorly Canada is performing, when it comes to managing its pollution and greenhouse gas emissions, is Alberta’s oil sands. Most of us have seen the commercials put out by the Canadian Association of Petroleum producers (CAPP), created to inform us of the innovations and research that is currently being done to reduce their pollution and carbon footprint. Are these commercials presenting us with straight facts or have they been presented to us in an attempt to sway our opinion? Whichever the case may be, we have a right to be properly informed and our government has a responsibility to analyze, inform and act with the best interest of Canada’s environment and its people in mind. When we compare what we are told by the government and the association representing the oil sands industry, with scientific facts, we will see where our government’s true interest lies and how damaging the oil sands really are. The most obvious effects of the oil sands is the area consumed by their operations. To date, more land has been reserved for oil sands operations than that of the entire country of England. Amongst all of this land, the oil sands have what are called tailing ponds. These are large bodies of contaminated water, created as a holding area for the oil production...
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...difficult to have a balance between ethics and profit, especially for gas and oil industry. No matter how large the company is, sometime they still make a decision which are seem like unethical, and Royal Dutch Shell Public Limited Company is one of the example. As being a large and profitable company, Shell has started a new Athabasca Oil Sand Project in Alberta. World’s scientific community together with independent non-profit organization believe that this project will make the environment pollution in Alberta being more serious and adversely impact the ecosystem. They are disappointed to the unethical decision of Shell. Therefore, based on this case, the purpose of this research is to discuss the ethics issue that Shell cause and the company performance under its Code of Conduct in this regard. Solutions will be given, including the cost and benefit for the different shareholders. 2. THE CASE 2.1 THE SITUATION AND KEY FACTS Alberta is a province of Canada which is the largest producer of crude oil, natural gas and other gas products. It is active in every area of the oil and gas industry, including exploration, production and refining. Athabasca oil sand is the world largest receptacle of crude bitumen which locates in north eastern of Alberta. This oil sand stores a high quantity of unconventional petroleum which consists of a mixture of bitumen, clay minerals, water together with sand. 2.2 THE KEYSTAKEHOLDERS AND THEIR INVOLVEMENT Stakeholders refer to a person...
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...Legal Issues in Hydraulic Fracturing Demand for energy shows every promise of remaining high, and supplies of natural gas and oil worldwide are dwindling. Renewable and alternative energy sources – for example, wind-generated electricity, or nuclear power – are being developed and considered at the national level; however, at the time of writing more than half of the total energy consumed in the United States comes from oil and natural gas sources. Specifically, natural gas was – in 2011 – providing fully a quarter of the total energy consumed in the United States (Obama, 2013). Hydraulic fracturing, also known as “fracking”, provides a means of exploiting the reserves of natural gas within United States territory. These natural gas reserves are positioned in such a way that they cannot typically be exploited by traditional methods, and instead are produced by a process of hydraulic fracturing. This means of oil and gas production is relatively new, and it remains controversial in terms of economics, safety and environmental cost. In addition to ecological, sociological and political considerations, there are many legal issues involved in the production of energy via hydraulic fracturing (Hagstrom and Adams, 2012). Regulation The actual activity of hydraulic fracturing is carried out by private corporations; however, the process is governed by multiple State and Federal regulations and laws. As the field of hydraulic fracturing is developing quickly and recently, legislation...
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...This increases the amount of CO2 uptake in oceans when these organisms photosynthesise (Williamson et al., 2012). However, its feasibility has been questioned and studies have shown that there is minimal expected increase in CO2 uptake (Oschlies et al., 2010). The problem is that this technique reduces atmospheric CO2 by encouraging its absorption in oceans instead. While atmospheric CO2 levels fall, level of dissolved CO2 in deep waters increases, worsening the problem of ocean acidity. A bigger concern is that large amounts of other greenhouse gases such as nitrous oxide and methane may be released due to decomposition of large biomass under anoxic conditions (Williamson et al., 2012). These pollutants have global warming potential 320 times and 20 times greater than CO2 respectively. Hence, instead of reducing greenhouse gases to slow down global warming, this technique might aggravate the...
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...crude oil pipeline project have been under the scrutiny of American politics in recent months. A debate has ensued around national calls for the construction of infrastructure that would transport a crude oil alternative from Canada to the United States, and has rapidly gained increased exposure. This exposure can be attributed to a number of factors, but in large part rising gasoline prices and political pressures are the driving factors. Increased demand for more reliable and stable supplies of crude oil in the United States has been driven by an ailing supply of traditional heavy oil. TransCanada Corporation is a Canadian based energy company which develops and operates energy infrastructure throughout North America. The corporation finds itself at the focal point of the oil sands debate. The transnational corporation has applied for a permit to carry out a $7 billion project by the name of Keystone XL, which would allow TransCanada to construct and manage an oil transport pipeline between the United States-Canada border. The pipeline would transport crude oil produced from oil sands in Canada to oil refineries in the Texas Gulf Coast. Since the pipeline would cross international borders, the project requires the approval of the State Department in accord with Executive Order 13337. It is over this crucial point that much of the discussion has been centered. Time Magazine has dubbed oil sands “Canada’s greatest buried energy treasure” (“What is Oil Sands?”). Oil sands are naturally...
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...the responsibility of each individual global company to ensure that proper strategies and policies are utilized to address these challenges. This paper will analyze the Code of Conduct of Chevron Corporation, as it relates to other companies in the industry, while simultaneously determining the key issues impacting the company and how technological advancements may face challenges in the global society. Chevron is a company that has an extensive strong history, which began when a group of explorers and merchants established the Pacific Coast Oil Company on September 10, 1879, in San Francisco. The company has changed its name more than once, but claims to have always retained their founders’ spirit of grit, innovation, and perseverance (Chevron 2013). They have transformed into what is now Chevron Corporation, recently ranked 9th among the world’s top oil companies by Petroleum Intelligence Weekly in 2013, second among US oil companies behind ExxonMobil (Chevron 2013). Chevron has partnered with other companies, each with their own unique history, strengths, and character. Essentially, they have grown from a San Francisco based company with a five state market in the Western United States, to a major corporation whose affiliates conduct business globally. The company has a market capitalization of over $204.9 billion. They have expanded into essentially every area of the energy industry, including exploring for, producing, and...
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...COLD ENVIRONMENTS All Definitions: * Quaternary Period: the latest period in geological time spanning the last 2 million years. It is sub-divided into the Pleistocene epoch (the most recent ice age) and Holocene epoch (the post-glacial period of last 10000 years). * Glacial: a period of time when masses of ice develop and advance into lower altitudes due to a sustained decline in temperature. Extensive continental ice sheets form during such periods. * Interglacial: a period of time, such as the present day, when ice still covers part of the Earth’s surface but has retreated to the polar regions. * Accumulation: the net gain in an ice mass. The sources of accumulation are direct snowfall and avalanching from higher slopes. * Sublimation: a transition from the solid state to gas with no intermediate liquid stage. * Ablation: the process of wastage of snow or ice, especially by melting. * Steady State: when the amounts of accumulation and ablation are equal over the course of a year. As a result, the snout of the glacier will remain stationary. * Surge: a short-lived phase of accelerated glacier flow. * Pressure Melting Point (PMP): the temperature at which ice under pressure will melt. * Extensional Flow: also known as extending flow, this is the extension and related thinning of glacier ice in those zones where velocity increases. * Compressional Flow: also known as compressing flow, this is the type of glacier flow whereby a reduction...
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...describe and develop a recruitment and selection plan for the Human Resource Department at Nexen. In this report we will examine the organization regarding their culture and the “Nexen way” to their operations and strategies. By doing this, we will be able to research the needs of recruitment and accurately write a job analysis and further a proper job description of a vacancy Staff Advisory- Compensation at Nexen. However, with doing this we will need to identify the costs for the company and understand all legal issues that may arise and follow all means of legislation. Company Overview Nexen is a globally known oil and gas company, based out of Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Nexen has production in “UK North Sea, the US Gulf of Mexico, western Canada (including unconventional natural gas resource plays such as coaled methane and shale gas, and the Athabasca oil sands of Alberta), Yemen, offshore West Africa, and Colombia” (Nexen Inc., 2012). Nexen is known for their innovation and use of technology that allows them to responsibly and profitably develop resources in rural areas of the world. They have a company that has been built with extreme talent...
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...Dutch Shell plc Annual Report and Form 20-F for the year ended December 31, 2007 Royal Dutch Shell Our Business With 104,000 employees in more than 110 countries and territories, Shell plays a key role in helping to meet the world’s growing demand for energy in economically, environmentally and socially responsible ways. Our Exploration & Production business searches for and recovers oil and natural gas around the world. Many of these activities are carried out as joint venture partnerships, often with national oil companies. Our Gas & Power business liquefies natural gas and transports it to customers across the world. Its gas to liquids (GTL) process turns natural gas into cleaner-burning synthetic fuel and other products. It develops wind power to generate electricity and invests in solar power technology. It also licenses our coal gasification technology, a cleaner way of turning coal into chemical feedstocks and energy. Our Oil Sands business, the Athabasca Oil Sands Project, extracts bitumen from oil sands in Alberta, western Canada and converts it to synthetic crude oils. Our Oil Products business makes, moves and sells a range of petroleum-based products around the world for domestic, industrial and transport use. Its Future Fuels and CO2 business unit develops fuels such as biofuels and hydrogen and synthetic fuels made from natural gas (GTL Fuel) and potentially from biomass; and leads company-wide activities on CO2 management. With 46,000 service stations, ours...
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...Columbia (Statistics, Canada, 2012). Post world war, rapid expansion in the US industrial capacity was accompanied with rapid growth in the Canadian economy as well. Growth in the demand for newspapers led to the growth of pulp and paper industry. By1950, over half of the world’s newsprint was supplied by Canada. By 1954, pulp and paper exports accounted for 24% of Canada’s total exports, of which, 33% of those exports were to the United States (Statistics, Canada, 2012). Post 1960, the new staple in the resource landscape for Canada was Energy. Until this time, though some local sources were available on the Prairies and in Nova Scotia, Canada had relied on coal imports. In 1957, there was a major oil discovery in Alberta at Leduc, which lead to a major and dramatic expansion of crude oil and natural gas industry, the effects of which are still evident till date. The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) removed most of the trade barriers for Canadian producers in US markets. Between 1990 and 2000, the export volumes of forest products increased at a compound annual rate of 4.4%, more than doubling the growth in forest products exports. The forest product export prices also rose at a compound annual rate of 3.2% per year, which outpaced the 2.3% compound annual growth in export goods prices (Statistics,...
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...‘An Action Plan – Implementing a Lean Transformation’ LEAN Final Project Alex Scholfield February 29, 2012 Summary Lean manufacturing can add significantly value to an organization by streamlining processes through the identification and elimination of muda or waste. Introduced by Toyota, Lean is more than just a tool, but a philosophy that needs to be adopted and incorporated into the culture of the organization. It is very important that the organization can see that leadership have bought in to the approach and are willing to support Lean. Numerous examples exist that demonstrate failed attempts at implementing Lean. It is important that organizations appreciate that they cannot simply wake up one day and choose to introduce Lean. It took Toyota many years to develop their culture into one of continuous improvement. For organizations that are new to Lean, the effort required will be significant in order to realize the true value associated with Lean principles. Poor planning will almost certainly result in disappointment and leave a strong negative association with any future Lean attempts along with a big investment with little to no return. With a focus on continuous improvement and continuous flow, manufacturing based on pull rather than push demand will assist organizations in becoming Lean. While Lean is a long journey, it can be one that returns significant value to an organization. What follows is a view of the history of Lean, some of the tools...
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...Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt llp Doing Business in Canada Doing Business in Canada Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt llp first produced Doing Business in Canada in 1997 and this guide continues to be one of our most popular and respected publications. Laws change and evolve and to ensure the information is current, we review the guide regularly. Doing Business in Canada Doing Business in Canada is designed to give business executives, counsel and potential investors from foreign countries a concise overview of Canada’s legal and economic framework and key business legislation. For those looking to pursue business opportunities in Canada, this guide outlines several unique aspects of doing business in Canada, including French language requirements in the province of Québec as well as overlapping regulatory jurisdiction among various levels of government in certain areas of the law. With few exceptions, the same considerations apply to Canadians who live, work and conduct business in Canada. Despite the ongoing harmonization of many areas of Canadian business law with those of our major trading partners through international agreements, addressing distinctly Canadian business law requirements is a crucial consideration when entering the Canadian marketplace. Each chapter is designed to assist you with an overview of that particular subject and the laws most likely to affect your business decisions. Beginning with an introduction to Canada’s legal system as it applies to businesses...
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...Foreign 99 Chapter III Direct investment by China in Latin America and the Caribbean A. Introduction Since 2008, China has become one of the world’s largest sources of direct investment. These flows first reached significant levels in Latin America in 2010, when it is estimated they surpassed US$ 15 billion. Chinese companies have in fact burst on the scene in the region so recently that several of the biggest projects were still being finalized in early 2011, or had only just been put into operation. Most investments have been made in natural resource extraction, but over the medium term this is expected to diversify into other sectors such as manufacturing and infrastructure construction. Paradoxically, there is a lack of data on this extremely important phenomenon, which poses a constant problem for policymakers and analysts studying Chinese foreign direct investment (FDI). Appraisals of the possible opportunities and challenges presented by this increased investment flow therefore tend to lack supporting empirical evidence. The aim of this chapter is to make some progress on this issue, at least as far as investment in the region is concerned. A variety of sources have been consulted, including investment announcements in the media and interviews with Chinese company managers and Latin American and Caribbean government authorities. Despite the evident limitations of this kind of material in terms of data quality and reliability, this course of action does provide...
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...letter Progress in 2010 Group overview Gulf of Mexico oil spill Exploration and Production Refining and Marketing Other businesses and corporate Liquidity and capital resources Corporate responsibility Research and technology Regulation of the group’s business Certain definitions 123 Additional information for shareholders 124 127 127 128 129 130 133 134 135 135 135 137 137 138 138 139 139 139 140 Critical accounting policies Property, plants and equipment Share ownership Major shareholders and related party transactions Dividends Legal proceedings Relationships with suppliers and contractors Share prices and listings Material contracts Exchange controls Taxation Documents on display Purchases of equity securities by the issuer and affiliated purchasers Fees and charges payable by a holder of ADSs Fees and payments made by the Depositary to the issuer Called-up share capital Administration Annual general meeting Exhibits BP Annual Report and Form 20-F 2010 83 Directors and senior management 84 87 Directors and senior management Directors’ interests 89 Corporate governance 90 105 106 106 107 108 Board performance report Corporate governance practices Code of ethics Controls and procedures Principal accountants’ fees and services Memorandum and Articles of Association 141 Financial statements 142 Consolidated financial statements of the BP group 150 Notes on financial statements 228 Supplementary information on oil and natural gas (unaudited) PC1 Parent company financial...
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...Canada From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to: navigation, search For other uses, see Canada (disambiguation). Page semi-protected Canada Vertical triband (red, white, red) with a red maple leaf in the centre A shield divided into four rectangles over a triangle. The first rectangle contains three lions passant guardant in gold on red; the second, a red lion rampant on gold; the third, a gold harp on blue; the fourth, three gold fleurs-de-lis on blue. The triangle contains three red maple leaves on a white background. A gold helmet sits on top of the shield, upon which is a crowned lion holding a red maple leaf. On the right is a lion rampant flying the Union Flag. On the left is a unicorn flying a fleurs-de-lis flag. A red ribbon around the shield says "desiderantes meliorem patriam". Below is a blue scroll inscribed "A mari usque ad mare" on a wreath of flowers. Flag Coat of arms Motto: A Mari Usque Ad Mare (Latin) "From Sea to Sea" Anthem: "O Canada" Royal anthem: "God Save the Queen"[1][2] Projection of North America with Canada in green Capital Ottawa 45°24′N 75°40′W Largest city Toronto Official language(s) English and French Recognised regional languages Chipewyan, Cree, Gwich’in, Inuinnaqtun, Inuktitut, Inuvialuktun, Slavey (North and South) and Tłįchǫ[3] Demonym Canadian Government Federal parliamentary democracy and constitutional monarchy[4] - Monarch Elizabeth II - Governor General David Johnston - Prime Minister Stephen...
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