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NEWS REVIEW June 8 -13
+ Advantage Oil & Gas Ltd. agreed to sell $67 million in non-core SE Alberta natural gas assets + ARC Energy Trust agreed to acquire Storm Exploration Inc. for $680 million + BP spill costs reached US$1.25 billion, capping efforts continue; face billions in clean up costs, fines and penalties + Calgary Tourism launched it’s new brand/website: “You’re Very Welcome”http://www.visitcalgary.com/ + Compton Petroleum Corporation agreed to sale of $150.2 million central Alberta natural gas assets + Devon Energy Corporation closed sale of its Gulf of Mexico shelf assets to Apache Corporation for US$ 1.05 billion + Equal Energy agreed to sell $25 million non-core west central Alberta sour gas assets + ERCB granted conditional approval to Petro-Canada Sullivan Creek sour gas pipeline and facilities + ING hired Morgan Stanley to sell its real estate unit; US$92 billion under management + Keyera Facilities Income Fund agreed to acquire $65 million in natural gas assets
+ Obama administration promised it will lift drilling moratorium on offshore oil and gas in shallow waters; no indication on relaxation for deepwater activities + Shell Canada concluded its turnaround at Muskeg River Mine and Scotford Upgrader
Mark Kolke, Editor/Publisher
FACILITYCalgary - Calgary oil & gas, business and real estate NEWS, Mark Kolke (Editor) - President, MaxComm Realty Advisors - Calgary office leasing, Calgary industrial leasing, P3 Public Private Partnerships - MaxComm Communications Publisher
Readers are encouraged to forward news items, commentary, feedback & items for our 'on the move' section by writing to: research@maxcomm.ca
+ I thought it funny: this year’s winner of the National Business Book Award is former bank economist Jeff Rubin for his book: Why Your World is About to Get a Whole Lot Smaller: Oil and the End of Globalization.Many of you will remember Jeff from his CIBC World Markets days when he spoke at Calgary Real Estate Forums talking about $200/barrel oil. It seems book awards (or being a best seller) don’t require accuracy from economists . . .
+ speaking of economists; ATB’s Todd Hirsch and Dan Sumner – Daily Economic Comment that captures a lot of data – and it is archived in downloadable PDF files
+ kudos to Alvin Libin, Theodore Rozsa (posthumous) and John Forzani – 2010 inductees in the Calgary Business Hall of Fame + BC will be breaking in a new Energy Minister; Blair Lekstrom resigned in protest over the harmonization of sales taxes issue + despite rainy weather, the Global Petroleum Show at Stampede Park this past week was, by all accounts, a roaring success . . . with China based companies putting in a strong presence
INFRASTRUCTURE / P3 / GREEN / LEED
+ EPCOR Utilities Inc. agreed to acquire Chaparral City Water Company (Chaparral, Arizona) for US$ 35 million
+ new projects - sponsored by the Alberta government at 19th Annual Emerald Awards; Emerald Challenge Award - Oil Sands recognized Chris Fordham from Suncor for excellence related to environmental activities in Alberta’s oil sands. Alberta Pacific Industries and Innovative Pipelining Strategies each received the Emerald Certified Shared Footprints Award for excellence in demonstrating a reduced environmental footprint using integrated land management
+ Imperial Oil will be paying the Alberta government $6.5 million toward road repairs in consideration of its 207 truck loads of equipment (fabricated in Korea) as it is hauled to the Kearl mine site
+ perhaps Finance Minister Flaherty will be watching the French experience; the government of France is selling 1,700 buildings to help cut its ballooning debt
+ Suncor Energy Inc. got approval for its planned 88 megawatt Wintering Hills wind power project(125km NE of Calgary )
POINTS to ponder
A civil engineer, a chemist and an economist are traveling in the countryside. Weary, they stop at a small country inn. “I only have two rooms, so one of you will have to sleep in the barn,” the innkeeper says. The civil engineer volunteers to sleep in the barn, goes outside, and the others go to bed. In a short time they’re awakened by a knock. It’s the engineer, who says, “There’s a cow in that barn. I’m a Hindu, and it would offend my beliefs to sleep next to a sacred animal.” The chemist says that, OK, he’ll sleep in the barn. The others go back to bed, but soon are awakened by another knock. It’s the chemist who says, “There’s a pig in that barn. I’m Jewish, and cannot sleep next to an unclean animal.” So the economist is sent to the barn. It’s getting late, the others are very tired and soon fall asleep. But they’re awakened by an even louder knocking. They open the door and are surprised by what they see: It’s the cow and the pig!
‘Did you ever think that making a speech on economics is a lot like pissing down your leg?It seems hot to you, but it never does to anyone else.’- Lyndon B. Johnson
‘Economists are people who work with numbers but don’t have the personality to be accountants.’ – source unknown
‘Economists are pessimists: they’ve predicted 8 out of the last 3 depressions.’ – Barry Asmus
‘It’s called political economy because it has nothing to do with either politics or economy.’ – Stephen Leacock
An economists is a trained professional paid to guess wrong about the economy. An econometrician is a trained professional paid to use computers to guess wrong about the economy.
OFFICE & INDUSTRIAL LEASING
Mark Kolke, President of MaxComm Realty Advisors, MaxComm Communications and Plandflex Corporation, has been working in real estate finance, management, leasing, sales and consulting work in Alberta for twenty-eight years. His license to practice real estate in Alberta is sponsored by MaxWell South Star Realty where he is an Associate dealing in commercial, residential and agricultural properties. He moved back to Calgary eleven years ago after twenty- seven years in Edmonton. He advises tenants, buyers, developers and institutional clients on issues involving residential developments, commercial real estate and public private partnerships (P3s).
