Nexen Ordered To Suspend Operations On 95 Pipelines By Alberta Energy Regulator

CALGARY — Alberta's energy regulator has ordered Nexen Energy to immediately cease operations of 95 pipelines in northeastern Alberta.

It issued the order late Friday due to what it calls non-compliance surrounding pipeline maintenance and monitoring in its Long Lake oilsands project.

Alberta Energy Regulator spokesman Bob Curran says every oil and gas company is required to monitor, inspect and maintain records for all of their pipelines.

Nexen Oil Spill Could Have Been Leaking For Over 2 Weeks

ANZAC, Alta. - Nexen Energy said Wednesday it can narrow down when a pipeline ruptured in northern Alberta to a two-week period, something that one environmental group said is cause for alarm.

Ron Bailey, the company's senior vice-president of Canadian operations, said officials still don't know precisely when the pipeline began leaking after a five million litre spill was discovered last Wednesday in Anzac, about 35 kilometres southeast of Fort McMurray.

Nexen pipeline spill cause could take months to determine

It could take months for Nexen to fully understand what caused a pipeline leak that spilled five million litres of bitumen and water into muskeg near Fort McMurray, Alta., the company says.

Nexen CEO Fang Zhi, who spoke to the media Wednesday at the site of the spill, personally apologized for the damage.

Nexen Pipeline Spills 5 Million Litres Of Emulsion Near Fort McMurray

CALGARY - A pipeline at Nexen's Long Lake oilsands project in northeastern Alberta has failed, spilling an estimated five million litres of bitumen, produced water and sand.

The company, which was taken over by China's CNOOC Ltd. in 2013, said the affected area is about 16,000 square metres, mostly along the pipeline's route.

The company and the Alberta Energy Regulator say it's too soon to say what might have caused the leak

Nexen pipeline leak in Alberta spills 5 million litres

One of the largest leaks in Alberta history has spilled about five million litres of emulsion from a Nexen Energy pipeline at the company's Long Lake oilsands facility south of Fort McMurray.

The leak was discovered Wednesday afternoon.

Nexen said in a statement its emergency response plan has been activated and personnel were onsite. The leak has been stabilized, the company said.

CNOOC-Nexen: The deal that human rights forgot

In his speech marking the establishment of the new Office of Religious Freedom, Prime Minister Stephen Harper rightly included religious minorities in China — such as Tibetans and Falun Gong practitioners — on his list of communities needing protection. Just a few months ago, however, a Chinese state-owned company accused of oppressing Tibetans and Falun Gong practitioners, CNOOC, bought a Canadian oil and gas company, Nexen, with the Prime Minister approving the deal as one constituting a “net benefit” for Canada. For Canadians concerned with human rights, this incongruity is difficult to understand.

Tar Sands Deal And China’s Colonization of Canada

“Those skilled in war subdue the enemy’s army without battle.  They capture his cities without assaulting them, and overthrow his state without protracted operations.  Your aim is to take the opponent’s country intact.  This is the art of offensive strategy.”

These are the words of legendary Chinese general and tactician Sun Tzu, thought to be the author of The Art Of War, written before the time of Christ.

3 Conservative MPs raised concerns about CNOOC-Nexen deal

Three Conservative MPs wrote to the prime minister and the industry minister to raise concerns about the contentious takeover of Calgary-based oil and gas producer Nexen by a Chinese state-run company, the CBC has learned.

Documents obtained by CBC News Network’s Power & Politics through Access to Information reveal strong opposition to the $15.1 billion deal from key industry people and the Conservative backbenches.

The China syndrome

Canada’s PM might be somebody’s tool, but he’s nobody’s fool.

Given the tar sands’ iffy prospects, Stephen Harper faced limited choices when he allowed the sale of Calgary-based Nexen to China’s state-owned CNOOC (China National Offshore Oil Corporation).

Still, it was trippy: Alberta’s oil barons gave birth to Canada’s new brand of neo-conservatism back in the 1980s because they were ticked at PM Pierre Trudeau for creating a national energy policy and a publicly owned national oil company, Petro-Canada.

U.S. must approve sale of Nexen to Chinese

Now that the Canadian government has cleared the $15.1-billion Nexen deal, the focus shifts to the United States, where regulators must do the same.

While only a fraction of Calgary-based Nexen’s holdings are in the United States, if the sale to a Chinese state-owned company gets the green light from U.S. government regulators, the People’s Republic of China will have a firm stake in oilfields in the Gulf of Mexico.

The Committee on Foreign Investment has two months to examine the megadeal, searching to see if the foreign acquisition is a threat to U.S. national security.

Harper’s warning to foreign state-owned firms masks deeper ambiguity in new rules: experts

The impact of Ottawa’s new restrictions on foreign state-owned enterprises on the wider business climate will take years — and more regulatory decisions — to determine, said several analysts who spent the last several days deciphering the new rules.

While simultaneously approving over $20 billion in foreign takeovers during a rare news conference Friday evening, Prime Minister Stephen Harper also announced that the oilsands would from now on be off-limits to foreign SOEs and that similar firms in other sectors would receive extra scrutiny for any “influence” by their home governments.

Nexen deal proves Harper is China’s plaything

Just this once, OK?

That sums up Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s terrified assent to China’s $15-billion CNOCC takeover of Calgary-based petroleum producer Nexen. From now on, he promises, he’ll only say yes under “exceptional” circumstances.

Harper had offered himself up to NDP Leader Thomas Mulcair on a platter, and Mulcair set the platter on fire during question period. It was fun to watch but that’s little comfort. Nexen’s an awful deal for Canadians.

Nexen and Progress takeovers approved: What next?

The federal government's announcement on Friday that it is approving two more big oilsands takeovers (by China's CNOOC and Malaysia's Petronas, both state-owned suitors) was political tap-dancing at its best. Prime Minister Harper's speech listed several reasons why takeovers by foreign state-owned firms are a problem … but then proceeded to approve $21 billion worth of them. Future takeovers by foreign state-owned firms of bitumen assets will not normally be approved, he boldly proclaimed. (This strikes me like warning a burglar who has just robbed your house that you are going to install a burglar alarm sometime in the future.) Exactly how and on what criteria oilsands takeovers by foreign SOEs is not clear (and remember, the government also promised to clarify its foreign takeover rules after the BHP/Potash debacle, but has yet to do so). Foreign companies which are not state-owned are still welcome to take over Canadian bitumen companies -- and foreign state-owned companies are still welcome to take over other (non-bitumen-centred) petroleum companies. So this purported "crackdown" on foreign takeovers is awfully narrow and unclear in its potential application.

‘Vast majority’ of Canadians liked Nexen deal, says Harper. Is he right?

According to the prime minister Monday in question period, the markets approved of the government’s decision to approve CNOOC’s takeover bid for Nexen Inc. This was his defence against a verbal haranguing from Opposition leader Thomas Mulcair on foreign investment regulations. In short, Mulcair said, there is still not enough clarity.

“Parliament enacts legislation and the government executive is responsible for enforcing it and applying it equally to everyone. Last Friday we learned that the prime minister does not think he needs Parliament to change the law,” Mulcair lecture. “In the Nexen case, he said that as long as there are exceptional circumstances, he can continue to approve foreign takeovers even if there is no net benefit to Canada.”

The CNOOC Nexen takeover: China plays chess, Harper plays checkers

Stephen Harper has announced Canada will approve the sale of energy giant Nexen to a Chinese state-owned oil company, CNOOC. Also Harper allowed Malaysia's national oil company Petronas to buy Progress Energy Resources, a purchase that will accelerate production and export of shale gas from Northern B.C.

The prime minister was clearly irritated: "To be blunt, Canadians have not spent years reducing the ownership of sectors of the economy by our own governments, only to see them bought and controlled by foreign governments instead." He added that, from now on, only under "exceptional circumstances" would additional Canadian bitumen sands assets be approved for sale to foreign state interests.

Only shareholders will benefit from Nexen deal says Mulcair

OTTAWA — As far as NDP leader Tom Mulcair is concerned, there’s just one clear net benefit to a Chinese state-owned company’s takeover of a Calgary-based petroleum producer  – and that’s to the shareholders.

“The only clear net benefit is to Nexen shareholders in Mr. Harper’s oilpatch,” Mulcair told Global’s The West Block on Sunday.

The Nexen deal: 'Friends with benefits' may not be nearly as good as it sounds!

"When we say that Canada is open for business, we do not mean that Canada is for sale to foreign governments," Prime Minister Stephen Harper intoned at a news conference in Ottawa Friday -- except, he didn't add, those parts of Canada our government's rich pals feel like selling off.

So, once again, Dec. 7 gets to be a date that will live in infamy, in this case the soon-to-be infamous sale of Calgary-based Nexen Inc. for a tidy $15 billion to the government of a Communist dictatorship -- or whatever it is you call a Crown corporation run by the government of a Communist dictatorship, which by definition one would think is an uncrowned sort of place.

Paradis says it's now up to China to explain deal to Canadians

Canada’s Industry Minister is remaining tight-lipped over the specific "net benefits" Canadians can expect in exchange for the sale of Alberta-based oil and gas company Nexen to a Chinese state-owned oil enterprise.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced Friday his government is giving the green light to the controversial $15.1-billion takeover of Calgary-based Nexen Inc. by China National Offshore Oil Co., but made it clear that such deals will only be allowed under "exceptional circumstances" in the future.

Nexen-CNOOC, Petronas Takeovers Approved: Alberta Politicians And Readers React

Prime Minister Stephen Harper's announcement of approving the foreign takeovers of Calgary-based Nexen Inc. and Progress Energy Resources Corp. received a strong reaction from politicians and readers in Alberta.

Alberta’s NDP Leader Brian Mason said that there are grave concerns about the direction of the oilsands as a result.

Stephen Harper’s Chinese education

OTTAWA—Stephen Harper could drag it out and huff and puff and wag his finger and say this time, but never again, but he really had no choice but to approve the Chinese takeover of Nexen.

He could hardly have travelled to Asia and hung out the huge Open for Business sign then yanked it away the first time a suitor came calling.