Welcome!

By registering with us, you'll be able to discuss, share and private message with other members of our community.

SignUp Now!

April 2011 Alberta Economic Fundamentals

Ally

Research Assistant
Registered
Joined
Mar 24, 2009
Messages
16,743
Gas Lag





China has spent tens of billions of dollars buying into energy resources from Africa to Latin America to slake the unquenched thirst for fuel from its growing industry and burgeoning cities.




But China may have more energy riches under its own soil than policymakers in the world's second-largest economy ever dared imagine.




Just over a year ago, Beijing awakened to a technology revolution that has unlocked massive reserves of gas trapped within shale rock formations in the United States.





Read the full article here.
 

Ally

Research Assistant
Registered
Joined
Mar 24, 2009
Messages
16,743
As West LRT construction ramps up, expect more dust, noise, congestion





Construction of the west LRT line will ramp up over the next six months, bringing more traffic congestion, dust and noise to the west end, the city warns.




In a video posted on the city`s website, west LRT manager Darrell Norton and a city spokeswoman said crews will take advantage of the warmer weather to increase efforts on the $1-billion, three-year project, due to open in December 2012.




`Crews will be hard at work over the next few months on sections of Bow Trail and 17th Avenue S.W.,` Norton said.




The work will focus on laying LRT tracks and building the line`s six new stations.






Read the full article here.
 

Ally

Research Assistant
Registered
Joined
Mar 24, 2009
Messages
16,743
Rigs on the comeback trail with high oil




It was the unmistakable sound of a comeback: the clank and grind of steel penetrating deep into the earth echoed loudly across the forests and muskeg of Alberta this winter.




The oil rigs had returned, and with a roar. Two years after the world fell apart for the oil patch, numbers from this winter drilling season show that it has leapt back together, creating a frenzy of activity not seen since the heights of the last boom. So much drilling work has returned to the West ` and especially Alberta ` that oil field service companies are once again talking about jacking up wages and raising their day rates as they attempt to meet a new demand surge.





Read the full article here.
 

Ally

Research Assistant
Registered
Joined
Mar 24, 2009
Messages
16,743
Calgary real estate sales behind last year's pace




It appears that sales in the Calgary residential resale market continue to lag.




According to a posting on the website of realtor Mike Fotiou, of First Place Realty, single-family MLS sales for the first three weeks of April are nearly nine per cent lower than the same period last year. But in his April 1-21 Calgary Real Estate Update, Fotiou says the number of pending sales has risen to mirror 2010 levels.





Read the full article here.
 

Ally

Research Assistant
Registered
Joined
Mar 24, 2009
Messages
16,743
Average Albertan spends more than $37,000 on new vehicle: StatsCan





CALGARY ` Albertans spend more per new vehicle purchase than the Canadian average, according to the latest data from Statistics Canada.




Todd Hirsch, senior economist with ATB Financial in Calgary, said the average price of a new motor vehicle purchase in Alberta in February was $37,130, up from $36,880 for the average in 2010, and $33,360 10 years ago.




`But while the average dollars spent per unit has risen 11 per cent over the past decade, that`s below the rise in average Alberta consumer prices of 30 per cent over the same period,` he said.




Hirsch said the Canadian average in February was $34,250 and it was $33,210 in 2010. `That`s a reflection of higher incomes in Alberta, as well as the tendency toward higher truck sales in the province,` he added.





Read the full article here.
 

Ally

Research Assistant
Registered
Joined
Mar 24, 2009
Messages
16,743
Katz arena plan still needs acceptable fiscal formula




EDMONTON - It's over, says AEG president Tim Leiweke.




The days of relying on public money to build new stadiums for pro sports teams are history, he says. It's time for private enterprise to step up to the plate.




Huh? He said what? No, that's not a typo.




That's precisely what Leiweke - whose firm is advising Katz Group on Edmonton's proposed $450-million downtown arena and adjacent entertainment district - told a recent conference in Los Angeles, according to a report in a San Diego newspaper.




In a speech to a crowd of highpowered industry execs at the 2011 Stadia Design & Technology Expo, Leiweke said the focus today should be on figuring out "how the private sector can step up and formulate these visions without necessarily expecting the taxpayers to write the cheque."





Read the full article here.
 

Ally

Research Assistant
Registered
Joined
Mar 24, 2009
Messages
16,743
Thriving in good times and bad




Seasoned business execs who have survived Alberta's volatile economic cycles tend to be a circumspect bunch.




After riding the oil-and-gas rollercoaster for decades, they know how quickly the world can change -for better or for worse.




Back in 2008, when oil prices hit nearly $150 US a barrel, no one expected prices to drop by nearly 80 per cent within months. But that's exactly what happened.




So it's not surprising that many execs cringe when they hear talk of another "boom" ahead, fearing what it may portend.







Read the full article here.
 

Ally

Research Assistant
Registered
Joined
Mar 24, 2009
Messages
16,743
Calgary retail boom spurs construction




Increasing confidence in the local economy and consumer demand is fuelling a retail construction boom in Calgary.




Michael Kehoe, an Alberta-based retail specialist with Fairfield Commercial Real Estate Inc., said there is more than 2.25 million square feet of new retail space under construction or in the final planning stages over 13 sites across the city.




The new retail projects range from major power centres in Chestermere, Mahogany and Balzac to the Calgary International Airport terminal expansion and the downtown East Village urban redevelopment.




"Calgary is widely considered to be the economic bright spot in the retail real estate industry across North America," said Kehoe. "The retailing momentum is being fuelled by such factors as continued immigration and moderate population growth, a competitive leasing environment, solid retail sales and consumer confidence levels."





Read the full article here.
 

Ally

Research Assistant
Registered
Joined
Mar 24, 2009
Messages
16,743
Cenovus receives approval to expand Christina Lake operation



CALGARY, Alberta (April 26, 2011)
- Cenovus Energy Inc. (TSX, NYSE: CVE) has received approval from the Alberta Energy Resources Conservation Board (ERCB) to move forward with a major expansion at its Christina Lake oil sands operation. The approval covers three expansion phases (E, F and G) of 40,000 barrels per day (bbls/d) each, which would bring gross production capacity to 218,000 bbls/d once complete.





"The regulatory approval at Christina Lake is a significant step in our plan to increase the company's net asset value," said Brian Ferguson, President & Chief Executive Officer of Cenovus. "This is a major milestone that allows our expansion plans at Christina Lake to remain on schedule. Additionally, as a result of this approval and the expansion of the development plan area, we expect to add substantially to our Christina Lake proved reserves at year end."





Christina Lake is a major part of the company's plan to grow oil sands production five-fold by 2019. With this approval, Cenovus has oil sands expansions totaling 290,000 bbls/d of gross production capacity either under construction or approved by the regulators. That's in addition to its current combined gross production capacity of 138,000 bbls/d at Christina Lake and Foster Creek.





Engineering and equipment fabrication for Christina Lake phase E is already underway with first production planned for 2014. Phase F is expected to begin production in 2016 and phase G the following year. The first phase of the expansion is expected to be sanctioned by Cenovus and its partner by the end of 2011.





Read the full article here.
 

Ally

Research Assistant
Registered
Joined
Mar 24, 2009
Messages
16,743
Oilsands missing Mar in U.S.





With all that's going on south of the border regarding the oilsands -whether the release of a supplemental environmental impact statement by the U.S. State Department last week regarding TransCanada's Keystone XL pipeline or the opposition encountered by Imperial Oil as it transports components destined for Kearl Lake through Idaho and Montana -it's hard not to think the timing of Gary Mar's departure from the Beltway wasn't exactly optimal.




Mar left his post last month as Alberta's representative in Washington, which he had held since September 2007, to enter the provincial Progressive Conservative leadership race.




Some might argue the work regarding the oilsands south of the border has shifted away from providing the information that was sorely lacking to one that is more policy-driven. When Murray Smith first took the post in Washington in 2005, things were much different than today; back then there was a big void in terms of understanding what the oilsands were all about.



Read the full article here.
 

Ally

Research Assistant
Registered
Joined
Mar 24, 2009
Messages
16,743
Cenovus wins approval of 'milestone' oilsands expansion




EDMONTON ` Cenovus Energy received a green light Tuesday for a 120,000-barrel-per-day expansion worth about $2.7 billion to its Christina Lake oilsands operations near Conklin, north of Lac La Biche.




The Alberta Energy Resources Conservation Board`s approval covers expansion phases E, F and G of the project, with each phase producing 40,000 bpd. This would bring gross production capacity to 218,000 bpd when complete.




`This is a major milestone that allows our expansion plans at Christina Lake to remain on schedule,` chief executive Brian Ferguson said in a news release.





Read the full article here.
 

Ally

Research Assistant
Registered
Joined
Mar 24, 2009
Messages
16,743
Russia running out of oil: State study




MOSCOW ` An ominous Russian state study warned the government Tuesday that it faced a light crude oil shortage that meant it could only sustain its world-topping production rates for another 15 years.




The annual ministry of natural resources survey painted a bleak Russian energy picture that also pointed to problems in future export rates of natural gas -- the domain of its largest and most important company Gazprom.




But most of the problems focused on oil and its deteriorating and diminishing quality in Russia's Soviet-era wells.




The detailed study said Russia was tapping its existing light crude reserves in western Siberia at alarming rates while failing to replace them with new finds in regions that sit further away from the industrial heartland.





Read the full article here.
 
Top Bottom