Chesapeake and EnCana: "Let'$ Make a Deal"

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Many of the major North American drilling companies are selling off their assets to foreign investors; Chesapeake being one example. EnCana's deal with Kogas (Korea) is another. And if you read this article, you'll see that another major country, China, may soon be bidding on our natural resources. And guess what folks; that gas is not all staying here.

"But the most interesting implication of the deal is where the gas will be headed. Previously, it was assumed that HornRiver production would be hooked into Alberta gas infrastructure (there's a lot of Alberta production just across the provincial border in the Grande Prairie area), and then sent south to Chicago hubs.

But Korea is not buying into this play to sell gas to America. Korea Gas has an official mandate from Seoul to secure energy supplies for Korean domestic use.

The Koreans will almost certainly push to send the gas westward. To the British Columbia Pacific coast. Where it can be turned into LNG and shipped home. "

Should anything happen to shut down production and/or slow the flow from the North American gas plays, I wonder how their foreign investors are going to react? With billion$ being invested, I can only imagine the possibilities.

So as our "fellow American" and "good neighbor" companies continue to ramp up their patriotism theme, I'm beginning to wonder how many and which flags they should be waiving...

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No Honor Among Thieves

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I've received a couple of e-mails about the latest ploy of BIG OIL to market their purely-for-profit exploitation of our commonwealth's natural resources; the patriotism card.

Now, that would be a huge mistake...but it does not surprise me in the least. I first heard it raised, albeit deftly, at the final NY DEC hearing on their Draft SGEIS. I was a little surprised initially, even though I knew it would eventually surface. It hasn't come up at any of the meetings I've attended since then, but I'm sure we'll all be dealing with it at some point in the very near future.

Anyway, if that's going to be part of their strategy...I simply offer we are more than ready to respond.

BTW - check out this cartoon I tripped across yesterday. 

Disclaimer: Someone else created it.  

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