A Technical, Economic, and Legal Assessment of North American Heavy Oil, Oil Sands, and Oil Shale Resources: In Response to Energy Policy Act of 2005 Section 369(p)

The purpose of this report is to assess unconventional North American resources, summarize current technologies for extracting and processing the resources, identify the issues which will affect the economic viability of various resource development schemes, evaluate the socioeconomic costs to communities and states impacted by such development, and analyze the regulatory and environmental climate in which the resource development will operate

The Oil Supply and Demand Context for Security of Oil Supply to the EU from the GCC Countries

In examining the prospects for oil and gas supply from the GCC countries, we draw on the evidence that the supply of oil and gas from the region has been relatively reliable, notwithstanding the region’s perceived political instability. The approach taken here starts from this empirical observation; namely, that supply from the region will be available when called upon, as it has in the past. Oil and gas are of central importance to the economies of most GCC countries. Hydrocarbons provide the basis on which to gradually diversify GCC economies. Continued hydrocarbon-based economic growth provides the platform for economic diversification which can in turn underpin internal social and political cohesion and stability of these countries. Broadly speaking, Russia and the rest of the FSU will increasingly dominate the world’s oil supply outside OPEC and the Middle East, while China, India and North America will continue to determine oil demand. The political evolution of the FSU and the economic evolution, and macroeconomic policy making in particular, of the big Asian countries and the United States will be the determinants of the prospects for the call of GCC oil. Two scenarios of oil supply and demand; namely, Russia’s oil supply falters while China’s demand soars, versus Russia’s oil supply soars while China’s demand collapses, present two totally different outcomes for the economies of the GCC, and specifically affecting their ability to invest in their comparative advantages and diversify their economies. Paradoxically then, the internal prospects of the Middle East depend on external developments. Thus, this analysis looks outside for a basis to develop propositions for the inside with respect to, for example, ‘How much of the global oil and gas markets can GCC countries count on supplying?’Oil, Demand, Supply, Security, GCC

Petropolitics

The importance of energy to the functioning of any economy has meant that energy industries are amongst the most regulated of industries. What might appear to be purely private decisions are made within a complex and evolving web of government regulations. Petropolitics: Petroleum Development, Markets and Regulations, Alberta as an Illustrative History provides an economic history of the petroleum industry in Alberta as well as a detailed analysis of the operation of the markets for Alberta oil and natural gas, and the main governmental regulations (apart from environmental regulations) faced by the industry. The tools used within this study are applicable to oil and gas industries throughout the world. Winner, 2014 Book of the Year, Petroleum History Societ

Petropolitics

The importance of energy to the functioning of any economy has meant that energy industries are amongst the most regulated of industries. What might appear to be purely private decisions are made within a complex and evolving web of government regulations. Petropolitics: Petroleum Development, Markets and Regulations, Alberta as an Illustrative History provides an economic history of the petroleum industry in Alberta as well as a detailed analysis of the operation of the markets for Alberta oil and natural gas, and the main governmental regulations (apart from environmental regulations) faced by the industry. The tools used within this study are applicable to oil and gas industries throughout the world. Winner, 2014 Book of the Year, Petroleum History Societ

Alternative and Renewable Energy

Energy, in its current state, is a finite resource that will not last for generations to come. This project investigates existing research on several renewable energy alternatives, including nuclear, hydroelectric, natural gas, biofuels, and more, as well as providing a potential method of combining solar and wind energy harvesting techniques for increased efficiency. Finally, the social effects of renewable energy on health, the environment, and politics are considered, and an outlook for the future is included

Alternative and Renewable Energy

Energy, in its current state, is a finite resource that will not last for generations to come. This project investigates existing research on several renewable energy alternatives, including nuclear, hydroelectric, natural gas, biofuels, and more, as well as providing a potential method of combining solar and wind energy harvesting techniques for increased efficiency. Finally, the social effects of renewable energy on health, the environment, and politics are considered, and an outlook for the future is included

Effects of oil sands process-affected water and substrates on wood frog (Rana sylvatica) eggs and tadpoles

An essential element of the reclamation strategy proposed by the oil sands mining industry in northern Alberta, Canada, includes the creation of wetlands for the bioremediation of mining waste materials. The mining process used to extract oil from these deposits results in the production of large volumes of process-affected water (OSPW) and sediments (OSPS), which must be incorporated into wetlands as a component of the reclaimed landscapes. Wood frogs (Rana sylvatica) are an abundant native species that might be expected to inhabit these reclaimed wetlands. The objective of this study was to determine potential detrimental effects of OSPW and OSPS on the growth and development of wood frogs. Several morphological (weight, length, condition factor) and biochemical (whole body tadpole thyroid hormone and triglyceride concentrations and metamorph hepatic glycogen concentration) endpoints were assessed in conjunction with hatchability and survivability of wood frog eggs and tadpoles exposed to process-affected materials (OSPM) under field and laboratory conditions. As part of this study, assay techniques were optimized to enable simultaneous measurement of whole body 3,5,3’-triiodothyronine (T3), thyroxine (T4) and triglyceride (TG) concentrations in wood frog tadpoles. These assays were used to monitor changes in T3, T4 and TG in wood frog tadpoles during development from hatching to metamorphosis (Gosner stages 19-46), to establish baseline levels for subsequent application of the assays to evaluate contaminant effects. The results indicated peak T3 and T4 concentrations occurred during metamorphic climax (Gosner stages 40-46) and prometamorphosis (Gosner stages 31-40), respectively. Maximal TG concentrations were also observed during prometamorphosis. These assays were further employed to assess body condition and development in wood frogs during a field study in 2005, and the following laboratory studies in 2006 and 2007. In summer 2005, 29 reclaimed and five unimpacted wetlands were monitored for use by native amphibians, and tadpoles and newly-metamorphosed wood frogs were collected from a subset of sites as a preliminary assessment of contaminant effects. Endpoints such as metamorph hepatic glycogen and whole body tadpole T3, T4 and triglyceride concentrations were compared among six impacted and three reference wetlands. The surveys indicated 60% of OSPW-impacted wetlands were used by breeding adult amphibians, while wood frog tadpoles and newly-metamorphosed frogs were observed in 37 and 30% of OSPW wetlands, respectively. In general, lower whole body tadpole T3 and triglyceride concentrations were observed in wood frogs from wetlands containing OSPM. In contrast, hepatic glycogen concentrations in newly-metamorphosed frogs and whole body tadpole T4 and T3/T4 concentrations were comparable among the reference and impacted wetlands. In addition, the differences observed in total body weight and length of tadpoles and newly-metamorphosed wood frogs among OSPM and reference sites were likely due to minor differences in developmental stages of the animals collected from the various wetlands, rather than any contaminant effect. In 2006 and 2007, wood frog eggs and tadpoles were exposed to several sources of OSPW and OSPS collected from reclaimed Suncor and Syncrude wetlands under controlled laboratory conditions. Hatchability was reduced in eggs exposed to water from only one of the OSPW sites, compared with the other process-affected ponds and the control water (

Studies on the Allocation of Water Over Space and Among Users in an Arid Environment

After a decade in a long-tenn research program at Utah State Univers\u27ity it is appropriate to review the concepts, progress and possible changes in direction. In the late 1960\u27s grants were received froln the Office of Water Resources and Technology and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Funding was also received from the Utah Center for Water Resources and the Utah Agricultural Experiment Station. These grants enabled a beginning of the research using extensive linear programming models that is still underway, many grants and many people later. The list of publications at the end of this paper fonn the basis for this report, but are not cited herein. A number of studies in other departments also drew from the program

Large-Scale Energy Projects: Assessment of Regional Consequences

A major component of this study is a review of models and inference structures used in analysis of energy project impacts (economic, institutional, and environmental) -- the supporting databases, and the uses of such information in pertinent policy analysis. In this effort, the study emphasized the regional dimension of impact analysis. Second, in order to capture the rich and complex pattern of energy initiatives, their multidimensional impacts, and methods of assessment of such impacts, five case studies of large-scale energy projects in four countries were commissioned. Large-scale adjustments in energy supply and demand, and in economic and environmental systems are inherently surrounded by technological and political uncertainties. Further, these countries -- Canada, the USA, Sweden, and the USSR -- vary considerably in the objective conditions of energy supply and demand, in their policy formulation and decision frameworks, and in their policy implementation settings. The case studies were consequently intended to elucidate, in these diverse decision-making and implementation contexts, the antecedents and development of the energy investments: how energy crises were perceived; how they were transformed into public policy issues by the various national and regional interest groups; how the scope of energy impact assessment studies were defined; what methods and databases were used in impact analysis; and how these technical study results interfaced with policy-making groups or influenced the energy investment outcomes. The overall study attempted to integrate these two prongs of analysis -- the comparative study of impact assessment models and management methods and the rich, complex delineation of energy development case studies -- into a broad understanding of the process of policy formulation and decision making on large energy initiatives. This book attempts to capture the salient features of the process of assessment and decision making on large-scale energy initiatives, from initial specifications of the energy problem, through impact assessments, to the final stage of using such studies in policy decisions

Saving Alberta's Resource Revenues: Role of Intergenerational and Liquidity Funds

We use a welfare-based intertemporal stochastic optimization model and historical data to estimate the size of the optimal intergenerational and liquidity funds and the corresponding resource dividend available to the government of the Canadian province Alberta. To first-order of approximation, this dividend should be a constant fraction of total above- and below-ground wealth, complemented by additional precautionary savings at initial times to build up a small liquidity fund to cope with oil price volatility. The ongoing dividend equals approximately 30 per cent of government revenue and requires building assets of approximately 40 per cent of GDP in 2030, 100 per cent of GDP in 2050 and 165 per cent in 2100. Finally, the effect of the recent plunge in oil prices on our estimates is examined. Our recommendations are in stark contrast with historical and current government policy