June 2011 Alberta Economic Fundamentals

[Ally]

Wood Buffalo rent rises again





Rent prices in Wood Buffalo have gone up again, this time renters here paying more than double the province.




During April, Wood Buffalo renters paid an average of $2,020 a month ` up from the same time last year at $1,968, according to Canada Mortgage Housing Corporation's rental market survey released Thursday.




The provincial average is $941.




And that, coupled with rising demand on the rental market, will push rent prices even higher in the future, said a market analyst with CMHC.




Fang Qin said this is the first instance of rental rate increase in two years.





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[Ally]

Fort St. John results are in for affordable housing survey





Until now, bureaucrats and statisticians measuring affordable housing in the Northeast had very little to be worried about. On paper, at least, the situation appeared manageable.



Fort St. John residents` median income has risen faster than the rest of the province, up 34 per cent from 2003 compared to 29 per cent across British Columbia, and housing prices climbed more slowly, up 123 per cent over ten years as opposed to 138 per cent for B.C. as a whole.





However, a simple conversation with most of the community`s renters, elderly and young residents revealed a very different story to City Planner, Kevin Brooks.





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[Ally]

Alberta jobs luring more Canadians to province



The promise of jobs is again luring people to Alberta, with the most Canadians heading here in the first three months of this year since the start of the boom.





Between January and the end of March, an estimated 5,300 more people moved to the province than left, according to Statistics Canada, the best first quarter since 2006.





Last year, net migration in those three months was 300.





"Especially in the past three or four months, the market has definitely picked up, especially in the energy professions," said Dale Pauls, recruiting manager for GFR Recruiting, which focuses on engineers. "The oilsands are definitely the buzzword out there."







Read the full article here.

 

[Ally]

Upset Calgary residents organize public meeting to put pressure on city over S.E. transit line




Local realtor and Mackenzie Towne resident, Doug Hayden, has formed a coalition of concerned residents who will be holding a public meeting this Thursday night at the Deerfoot Inn and Casino with all interested stakeholders in attendance to discuss where the project is at this point and what`s holding it up.




`I`m tired of hearing promises that aren`t being fulfilled,` Hayden said.




He added the south east LRT issue was at the forefront of the last civic election, but seems to have been put on the back burner now. It`s time, he argues, for the public to get involved and see this thing through.




`Citizens don`t have a voice. There`s no channel into this process for the citizens and that`s what this is really all about,` Hayden said. `It`s giving the citizens a voice, something they can work on, something they can volunteer towards, something they can get active in to make this thing a reality.`





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[Ally]

Calgary house prices to grow year-over-year





CALGARY ` The Calgary region can expect short-term year-over-year house price growth in the five to seven per cent range, according to a report released Tuesday by the Conference Board of Canada.




The board said the average house price in the Calgary census metropolitan area in May was $403,698, down from $404,361 in April and down from $409,143 in May 2010.




The seasonally-adjusted annual rate of sales in the existing home market for the Calgary region was 21,204 in May which was down slightly from 21,528 in April and from 21,360 in May 2010.




According to the website of Calgary realtor Mike Fotiou, of First Place Realty, there have been 919 single-family MLS sales in the city from June 1-20 for an average sale price of $476,450 compared with 1,313 sales and an average of $489,482 for the month of May.






Read the full article here.

 

[Ally]

Alberta commits millions to Shell carbon capture scheme





SCOTFORD - The Stelmach government and the federal Conservatives have agreed to fund 60 per cent of a Shell carbon capture and storage project, including 10-years of operational funding, and allow the energy giant to claim two for one carbon credits.




In a deal announced Friday, the federal and provincial governments committed $865 million to the $1.35 billion Quest Carbon capture and storage (CCS) project that Shell`s board of directors have yet to approve.




`I know the benefits of this project are not only for Alberta, but they are for all of Canada,` Premier Ed Stelmach said in a speech announcing the agreement at Shell`s Scotford Upgrader, 60 kilometres northeast of Edmonton.




Read the full article here.

 

[Ally]

Three-building condo project planned for southeast Calgary





CALGARY ` A three-building project, consisting of 386 condo units, is planned for southeast Calgary to take advantage of the growing interest in that real estate market.




The Gala in Applewood development, between 17th Avenue and 16th Avenue S.E. and 68th Street and 70th Street, could begin construction on its phase one at the end of July or early August.




Phase 1 would consist of 130 units followed by Phase 2 with 126 units and Phase 3 with 130 units. Each building would be four storeys and completion of the entire project would take about three years.






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[Ally]

Oilsands investments will deliver benefits across North America





EDMONTON ` When the Canadian Energy Research Institute (CERI) released its sixth-annual oilsands update in May, it highlighted the bright investment future of the industry.







The University of Calgary energy economics think-tank expects $2.1 trillion to be pumped into 47 new projects between 2010 and 2035.







That's split into $253 billion for initial capital for construction and, over the longer term, $1.8 trillion for operation, maintenance and sustaining capital.







But the real story is the benefits such massive investment will splash all across North America ` 900,000 full-time and part-time jobs; $444 billion in taxes paid to all levels of government; and a cumulative total of more than $623 billion in royalties bulging Alberta government coffers.




Read the full article here.

 

[Ally]

Saskatchewan ranks #1, Alberta #6 in Canada for energy investment: Fraser Institute





OTTAWA ` Saskatchewan is the top-ranked Canadian jurisdiction for oil-and-gas investments, according to an annual survey from the Fraser Institute.







The Canadian-based public policy research group said Monday that Saskatchewan has surpassed Manitoba, the top-ranked region last year, which finished second this year.







Saskatchewan was applauded for its government's long-term stability in energy policy, low royalties and "clear regulatory frameworks."







"Saskatchewan understands the petroleum industry and how important it is to maintaining a prosperous economy," said Gerry Angevine, the Fraser Institute's senior economist.






Read the full article here.

 

[Ally]

Rigging the market




WHEN the price of oil goes up, oil firms drill deeper. They also venture into harsher climes and seek out unconventional sources of oil and gas that, in happier times, would be too costly to extract. National oil companies (NOCs) often lack the skills to do any of this. The world`s big independent oil firms struggle, too. So they turn to the oil-services industry, which is set for a gusher of profits.




Four big firms dominate the business of managing geological data, digging wells, building rigs, handling infrastructure and developing the technology needed for large projects. Baker Hughes and Halliburton have their headquarters in Texas, as did Weatherford, though it recently moved to low-tax Switzerland. Schlumberger, a French company with revenues of some $27.4 billion in 2010, also has a big office in the Lone Star State.




America is the centre of the boom, says James Crandell of Dahlman Rose & Co, a bank. Oil-services firms there pioneered the technique of horizontal drilling, which is used to extract shale gas from America`s vast fields (conventional oil and gas are extracted using vertical wells). The same trick can be used to get at shale oil. As a result exploration and production (E&P) budgets in America are swelling.





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[Ally]

New bus rapid transit from the Calgary airport to downtown





Transit options between Calgary International Airport and downtown Calgary are being improved with the launch of the Route 300 Airport Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) service on Monday June 27, 2011.







Route 300 Airport BRT provides direct service to the Calgary International Airport every 30 minutes, between 5 a.m.-12 midnight, seven days a week with limited stops along Centre Street. A trip between downtown Calgary and the airport will take approximately 30 minutes. Connections to downtown hotels, attractions, shopping and to the CTrain system are all available on the new service.







`For a long time, Calgarians have asked for public transit options to the airport,` said Mayor Naheed Nenshi. `Route 300 means that traveling Calgarians, airport employees, and visitors to our city now have a new low-cost, direct route to and from the airport.`







Read the full article here.

 

[Ally]

Maverick Calgary company touts 'breakthrough' technologies to cut energy industry's environomental impact





CALGARY ` A Calgary-based research and development company says it has developed a number of `breakthrough` technologies that would reduce costs in the oilpatch while at the same time being environmentally-friendly.




Derya Yinanc, chief executive and chairman of Quantum Ingenuity Inc., said the company is in negotiations with `multiple major energy firms.`




`Developing breakthrough innovations for primary resource technologies, such as oil and gas, such as energy production, this is our purpose,` said Yinanc.




Quantum Ingenuity Inc. was founded in 2009 to provide improved primary resource production technologies. Its executive team includes Paul Harris, chief innovation officer and director of advanced concept research; oilpatch veterans Garry Mihaichuk, co-president for commercialization, and David Devenny, co-president for research and development; and director Bob Schulz, who is a professor in Petroleum Land Management at the University of Calgary`s Haskayne School of Business.






Read the full article here.

 

[Ally]

Alberta jobs luring more Canadians to province




The promise of jobs is again luring people to Alberta, with the most Canadians heading here in the first three months of this year since the start of the boom.




Between January and the end of March, an estimated 5,300 more people moved to the province than left, according to Statistics Canada, the best first quarter since 2006.




Last year, net migration in those three months was 300.




"Especially in the past three or four months, the market has definitely picked up, especially in the energy professions," said Dale Pauls, recruiting manager for GFR Recruiting, which focuses on engineers. "The oilsands are definitely the buzzword out there."





Read the full article here.

 

[Ally]

Future access to markets biggest threat to Alberta's energy industry




EDMONTON - Alberta Energy Minister Ron Liepert said Tuesday the biggest threat to Alberta`s energy industry is future access to markets.




The province needs two controversial pipelines to go ahead ` TransCanada`s Keystone XL project that would link Alberta with refineries on the Gulf Coast and Enbridge`s Northern Gateway to Kitimat where tankers would carry raw bitumen to Asia, Liepert said.




A decision on Keystone is expected from the U.S. State Department by the end of the year, while Ottawa will decide on Northern Gateway after a hearing starting in January.





Read the full article here.