Nelson Bennett

If Danielle Smith succeeds in getting a new pipeline built through B.C., I suggest it be named the David Eby pipeline. biv.com/news/commentar…

"We don't want to hear what people are against—we want to hear what they're for." @MarkJCarney said that to 700 business leaders at @BoardofTrade in Vancouver yesterday just before a one-on-one with Premier @Dave_Eby. @nbennett_ca on what Team Canada actually requires of BC right now: resourceworks.com/team-canada-wa… #BCPoli #CdnPoli #NaturalResources

New industrial carbon price set, pipeline to follow? BC will feel pressure to lower industrial carbon tax targets to match Alberta schedule. resourceworks.com/new-industrial…

Here’s my concern. Leaders need to demonstrate that they are grappling with trade-offs. It’s part of politics to take positions, and it’s part of having principles to not cave when the pressure is real. I don’t think one more pipeline is the cure to all of our problems (although it would help), and I don’t think stopping one pipeline negates the fact we are a natural resource based economy. If you’re going to say no, say no fully. Say no to our economy growing. Say no to more social programs. Say no to greater investments in infrastructure. That’s what logically follows from your no statement.

Today's news conference with ⁦@Dave_Eby⁩, Natural Resources Minister ⁦@timhodgsonmt⁩ and LNG Canada CEO Chris Copper was thin on news. I suspect Hodgson was just putting in an appearance to reassure Eby that, with all the attention on Alta., he hasn't forgotten BC.

@RobShaw_BC @VaughnPalmer Second that. Vaughn Palmer is the éminence grise of B.C. political journalism.

I cannot think of a better person in all of journalism to get an award of this scale. @VaughnPalmer's contributions are worth celebrating. In a shrinking profession where everyone seems to leave, BC is fortunate to still have him fighting the good fight on the beat every day.

Signal is now warning that it could exit Canada over Bill C-22. The government has called Signal, Apple, Meta, US Congress, and cybersecurity experts all wrong. But this isn't a bluff. Canadians will lose access to secure services if the bill passes as is. michaelgeist.ca/2026/05/bill-c…

Facts: 1. TMX is a government asset whose costs are covered by tolls from O&G producers. It is profitable. 2. Oilsands are not the most expensive barrel anymore, because it’s not 2015. They are generally among the lowest break-even barrels in North America. 3. Oilsands are not the most carbon intensive barrels. They are only 1-3% higher emitting than the average US refinery barrel, and are lower emitting than heavy oil competitors Iraq, California and Venezuela. Sources in thread /1

We have long been advocates for a Canadian sovereign wealth fund. The Canada Strong Fund announced today by @MarkJCarney is not your traditional SWF. They are typically funded through surpluses, not debt, and focused on diversifying away from the revenue stream that funds them. This is more like a war bond – but instead of investing in debt, Canadian’s can buy equity in the projects that the government is working to get off the ground. Our memo for a sovereign wealth (published Apr 2025) offers a different vision. Here's what it could look like. buildcanada.com/memos/wealth-f… We are watching developments closely – we will share details as we have them.

Today, we approved the Sunrise project, which will provide energy to homes, schools, and hospitals in B.C. and help us export more to Asia. Indigenous ownership. Affordable bills. Trade diversification. Energy sovereignty. That’s how we become an energy superpower.

BC's forestry crisis has three causes. Tariffs. Provincial policy. And a structural collapse in American home building that no government can fix. "We can no longer be a dimensional lumber sector that produces commodity lumber for Americans." — BC Forests Minister @rparmar_BC @nbennett_ca breaks down why the boom years for BC lumber may be gone for good. resourceworks.com/b-c-s-forestry…

Our governments’ finances face a growth problem, not just a budget problem. My latest for @TheHubCanada on why productivity changes everything: thehub.ca/2026/04/01/the… #cdnecon #cdnpoli

OilX: current OPEC production down ~10.6MM Bbl/d vs. February...bigger drop than peak COVID!!! I lack the necessary eloquence to properly express just how bad this is for the world.

In the way only an economist can, @trevortombe absolutely crushes the BC NDP for their utter, reckless fiscal ineptitude: "But most concerning of all is British Columbia, with a deficit of more than $13 billion for the coming year..." (1/4) thehub.ca/2026/04/01/the…

An incomplete list of what "the day after" will look like and why the US/Iran "excursion" will have a lasting impact on the oil market: 🛢️the process of Strait of Hormuz normalization will be measured in months even when "peace" comes, whatever that may look like. Voyage time to get empty vessels into the Strait and then back to destination points = months. Until then, production losses (now ~11MM Bbl/d) mount, yet safety buffers like unsanctioned oil-on-water and SPR will soon be very inadequate. Physical shortages imminent. 🛢️forecasted Middle Eastern production cumulative losses ~900MM Bbls even with things normalizing in April = death of the Super Glut narrative = baseline reset for balances. Inevitable demand destruction cannot offset 11MM Bbl/d of production losses. 🛢️production coming back online will take months (Kuwait saying 3-4 months, what of Iraq?) + potential for (semi) permanent losses due to reservoir damage 🛢️expected enduring political risk premium of $10/bbl-$20/bbl with new floor price of $70-$80 🛢️what is the value of OPEC spare capacity (all 1.5MM Bbl/of it pre-war) if much of it is vulnerable to a $30,000 drone = increasing strategic value of long-dated reserves in politically stable countries with egress (🇨🇦) 🛢️we already have strategic hoarding and product export bans, expect more countries to build SPRs = future demand 🛢️still TBD damage of many refineries and infrastructure = abnormally high refining margins, plus need to replenish what was already low stock levels

The Hormuz crisis is the precipitating factor in the current energy crisis, but the underlying cause is too little oil and gas production outside the Persian Gulf. Had the world spent the past decade building the oil, gas, LNG, pipeline, and fertilizer infrastructure that engineers designed and companies proposed, the Hormuz crisis would still be a serious geopolitical event, but it would not threaten to cause a recession. North America — The Atlantic Coast Pipeline, a 600-mile natural gas line from West Virginia to North Carolina, saw its cost double from $4.5 billion to $8 billion during years of environmental litigation before Duke Energy and Dominion Energy cancelled it in July 2020. — The Constitution Pipeline from Pennsylvania to New York died the same year. — The PennEast Pipeline won its case at the United States Supreme Court in 2021 and still could not get built because New Jersey refused to issue state permits. — In Canada, TransCanada abandoned the $15.7 billion Energy East pipeline in 2017 after the National Energy Board required an unprecedented review of upstream and downstream emissions. — In January 2024, the Biden administration paused all pending approvals for LNG export terminals shipping to non-free-trade-agreement countries, freezing projects representing tens of billions of cubic feet per day of potential capacity. — Venture Global’s CP2 terminal in Louisiana, designed for 20 million tonnes per annum, sat in regulatory limbo for over a year. — NextDecade’s Rio Grande LNG in Texas, with 48 MTPA of planned capacity, stalled alongside it. — PTT Global Chemical’s proposed $10 billion ethane cracker in Belmont County, Ohio, first announced in 2015, remains on indefinite hold after failing to attract financing partners amid climate-driven investor sentiment. — Across the US Gulf Coast, nearly 60% of planned plastic and petrochemical production projects sit on hold. — LNG Canada, the Shell-led terminal at Kitimat, British Columbia, took over six years from construction start to first cargo, with its pipeline running 263% over budget. Environmental review, Indigenous disputes, and contractor cost escalation all contributed. — Pieridae Energy’s Goldboro LNG project in Nova Scotia, a 10 MTPA facility first proposed in 2012, was abandoned in November 2023 after more than a decade of permitting and financing obstacles. Australia — Australia’s Santos’s Barossa gas project was halted midway through construction after a Federal Court ruling overturned its environmental approval. — Woodside’s Scarborough project faces ongoing litigation from the Australian Conservation Foundation seeking to block it on climate grounds. Africa — Perhaps nowhere has the damage been more consequential than in Africa. At COP26 in 2021, wealthy nations pledged to halt overseas development finance for gas projects, a commitment that fell hardest on the continent least responsible for climate change and most in need of energy infrastructure. — The World Bank stopped financing oil and gas extraction in 2019 and imposed restrictive conditions on downstream gas projects. — The European Investment Bank announced a complete ban on unabated fossil fuel financing by the end of 2021, with its president declaring that “gas is over.” — At least 21 other development finance institutions followed suit. As a result: — TotalEnergies’ Mozambique LNG project sat under force majeure for four and a half years after the UK Export Credit Agency and other backers withdrew climate-motivated financing. — The East African Crude Oil Pipeline lost financing commitments from more than 30 major international banks under pressure from climatists. Europe — France prevented the completion of a third gas interconnector with Spain, citing climate neutrality goals. — The United Kingdom imposed a moratorium on fracking in 2019 despite sitting atop one of Europe’s most promising shale gas formations. — Germany, which shuttered its last three nuclear plants in April 2023, compounded its gas dependency by refusing to develop domestic shale resources. — CF Industries permanently shut the UK’s largest ammonia plant at Billingham, a facility that also produced 60% of Britain’s food-grade CO2. — Yara International curtailed output across plants in France, Italy, and Belgium before permanently closing its 400,000 tonne per year ammonia facility at Tertre, Belgium, in October 2024. These closures occurred because European climate policy made gas too expensive for the domestic industry to survive.

🇨🇦The ongoing Hormuz crisis presents a historic opportunity for Canada’s oil and LNG industries. 🇨🇦This is the moment. If we miss it, there may not be another. 👇👇👇 Daily Energy Report Link: open.substack.com/pub/afalhajji/…

Prime Minister @MarkJCarney signed a strategic agreement that could open huge Asian markets to Canadian natural gas but pipeline politics might get in the way. @nbennett_ca writes. resourceworks.com/the-canada-ind…

I expect this same Asian bid to begin pulling additional Canadian heavy barrels west via the uncommitted (comparatively expensive tolls) portion of Trans Mountain. Just shy of 200 kbpd available. Shame we don't have another big 1 MMbpd pipeline to the west coast right now.

OMG! Press the translate button!