Friday, February 26, 2016

The Death Of One More Sparkle Pony...The Dean Buries The Lede

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OrAGlassHalfFullVille


In his column on the pull-out of AltaGas from its proposed Douglas Channel-based floating LNG terminal, published in the VSun earlier today, Vaughn Palmer buried the lede.

Twice

Buried Corpse #1: "...Not a factor in the decision (by AltaGas), according to (Clarklandian Cabinet Minister With All Portfolios Rich) Coleman, was a threatened federal import duty on the floating facility, which would have been constructed offshore and towed to the site. The company recently secured a waiver on the duty, which might constitute a precedent if another developer wants to do a floating terminal in the future..."

WTF????!!!!-- AltaGas actually got a Kraut-Rock Ferry-like waiver (aka a 'get out of import tax jail free card') to build their terminal offshore which, of course, means no jobs there for British Columbians...And, what's more, that waiver might actually be worth money to the cronies....errrrr....AltaGas in any subsequent rights sell-off...Gosh...Could it be that there are actually Sparkle Ponies, for the chosen ones at least, after all?


Buried Corpse #2: "...The company (i.e. AltaGas) recently completed a $1 billion run-of-river hydroelectric project in Northwestern B.C..."

Jeebuz!!! A billion dollar investment that will pay back in spades based on the locked-in futures contracts that we, the non-cronified must pay for via increased Hydro rates in, essentially, perpetuity (see, again, Norm Farrell's post from earlier today)...The long arm of GordCo, Inc. strikes again!

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And the ironic/sad/shocking thing about the above two buried corpses?

Well....

Based on my reading of the thing, it sure does look like the burying was actually done by the good Mr. Palmer in an effort to soften the blow of the AltaGas' Douglas Channel pull-out by showing that it's not all that bad after all, or some such thing.

Imagine that!



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Tip O' The Toque to Merv Adey on the Twittmachine for the heads-up.


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7 comments:

Grant G said...

Well well well...Need more sparkle pony news, as in bad news for LNG queen Christy..

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KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 26 (Reuters) - Malaysian oil giantPetronas is expected to announce further spending cutsnext week as it braces for earnings battered by the slump incrude prices that is also pressuring its global peers.

The grim outlook for state-owned Petroliam Nasional Bhd putsmore pressure on Southeast Asia's third largest economy, as the company accounts for nearly a third of the government's oil and gas-related revenue and provides a large number of jobs toMalaysians.

Malaysia's only Fortune 500 company is due to report fourth-quarter earnings on Monday, and analysts expect it to reverse last year's loss - its first in five years - and notch a net profit of less than 1 billion ringgit ($237.2 million),supported by its downstream business.

But Petronas is also expected to announce details of a sweeping overhaul, already disclosed internally, that could seespending cut by as much as 50 billion ringgit over four years.

The company has already said it would cut its 2016 dividend to the government by almost 40 percent to 16 billion ringgit($3.8 billion), a figure analysts said could shrink further.

"Can Petronas still pay up such a high price? I don't know,"Vikas Halan, Singapore-based vice president for Moody's told Reuters, referring to the dividend.

Earlier this week, the credit ratings agency said Petronas was at risk of a downgrade as oil prices languish, drying up operating cash and inflating debt.

On Tuesday, Chief Executive Wan Zulkiflee Wan Ariffin is due to speak to staff about the belt-tighening measures, which local media have said could also see a reduction in working hours, and pay, for staff.

A Petronas spokesman told Reuters there were no current plans for implementing a four-day working week, and that there would be no salary cuts. The spokesman, however, said the company was reviewing contract positions that were not criticalto its core business.

In February, Petronas shelved a joint venture risk-sharing contract with compatriot oil and gas service provider DialogGroup Bhd, blaming depressed oil prices.

Analysts say it is likely to stick with large-scale projects, namely the RAPID refining and petrochemical complex in Malaysia's southern state of Johor and the construction of a liquefied natural gas (LNG) export terminal in Canada.

The Canadian project, however, could be delayed due to worries about marine life, analysts said.

"Given the amount of environmental concerns the project has, plus local opposition to it and the well supplied nature of the global LNG market, I'm bearish on the project's prospects," said analyst Peter Lee from BMI Research Singapore.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/petronas-set-reveal-more-cost-053407304.html

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Bearish indeed...Petronas has no firm longterm buyers of the gas...

This project will get deferred to a much later date..in other words..Cancelled, these big energy giants never really go away..

Cheers

Hugh said...

Corpse #3:

“The world’s appetite for North American LNG will be limited to about 6.5 billion cubic feet a day in the next eight years, according to analysis by the Canadian bank CIBC and the U.S. department of energy. Cheniere has regulatory approval for nearly all of that volume, 6.3 billion cubic feet, from a pair of export terminals,” wrote the paper’s Chester Dawson. “That suggests trouble for dozens of other LNG projects, from Maryland to Oregon.(and BC)”

Hugh said...

NDP Gas Critic, in Hansard yesterday:

"Add to that very, very shortly, in Australia, the Gorgon (LNG) project, probably aptly named in the sense that it's a monster project. It's a $54 billion venture led by the major global player Chevron. They're coming into production in a couple of weeks."

Anonymous said...

there should be a new newspaper in BC called reported elseware.

sd said...

He's now carrying the new bucket of water for crusty. Seems that since there won't likely be any LNG we HAVE to build site C.The only BIG project in the west.

Anonymous said...

Speaking of taxes...

Whatever happened to the BC Rail 999 year lease deal?

There was a hanging question on whether the feds were going to tax all of the BC government's 'profits' away - but nobody ever heard the result... or is the decision still pending all these years later?

Grant G said...

More bad news on the Petronas front(Bad news for LNG Queen Christy)..

More postponements..

http://www.thestar.com.my/business/business-news/2016/02/27/report-petronas-reviewing-2nd-floating-lng-project/

Petronas will not be going forward in Prince Rupert..Unless the BC Liberals votes to pay for Petronas's project...Rich Coleman call call it..

British Columbia's LNG Project build deferred payment prosperity longterm sparkle pony once in a lifetime opportunity bond program...

Sheesh...The BC Liberals might read this and actually....ahh..Nevermind!