{"id":49469,"date":"2019-11-07T08:26:36","date_gmt":"2019-11-07T13:26:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/?p=49469"},"modified":"2019-11-07T08:26:38","modified_gmt":"2019-11-07T13:26:38","slug":"uk-ban-adds-to-the-tremors-taking-down-the-fracking-industry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/?p=49469","title":{"rendered":"UK Ban Adds to the Tremors Taking Down the Fracking Industry"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><a href=\"https:\/\/thetyee.ca\/Analysis\/2019\/11\/07\/UK-Ban-Taking-Down-Fracking-Industry\/\">UK Ban Adds to the Tremors Taking Down the Fracking Industry<\/a><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>How long can BC and Alberta ignore the financial and geological realities facing them?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/thetyee.ca\/Analysis\/2019\/11\/06\/CuadrillaResourcesHumanChain.jpg\" alt=\"CuadrillaResourcesHumanChain.jpg\"\/><figcaption>In 2013, protesters formed a human chain around Cuadrilla Resources\u2019 fracking operation in West Sussex, England. The UK recently announced a ban on fracking.&nbsp;Photo by Bogdan Maran, EPA.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>The dramatic decision by the British government to ban the disruptive technology of hydraulic fracturing (or fracking) is just one of two volatile storms now shaking the industry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And both have ramifications for the governments of British Columbia and Alberta, which actively subsidize the uneconomic industry with tax breaks, royalty credits, free water and taxpayer-funded seismic research and monitoring.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The first typhoon is the industry\u2019s failing business model.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The fracking of shale formations in Canada and the United States has largely generated more negative cash flows than revenue, due to high capital, water and energy costs combined with rapid depletion rates and low commodity prices.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Canadian firms such as&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.jwnenergy.com\/article\/2019\/2\/bc-faces-possible-90-million-tab-one-companys-orphan-wells\/\">Ranch Energy Corp.<\/a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbc.ca\/news\/business\/trident-exploration-aer-owa-oilpatch-1.5120486\">Trident Exploration<\/a>, which based their business models on fracking, recently went bankrupt, leaving massive liabilities for the public to clean up.&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/support.thetyee.ca\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">The&nbsp;Tyee&nbsp;is&nbsp;supported by&nbsp;readers&nbsp;like&nbsp;you&nbsp;Join us and grow independent&nbsp;media in&nbsp;Canada<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The highly indebted Encana Corp., a champion of the so-called \u201cshale gale,\u201d&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/ca.finance.yahoo.com\/news\/encana-corporation-tse-eca-financially-125447203.html\">banked its future<\/a>&nbsp;on fracking and lost.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In recent years it was&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.theglobeandmail.com\/opinion\/editorials\/article-dont-blame-ottawa-for-encanas-loss\/\">forced<\/a>&nbsp;to sell off many of its holdings, lost 90 per cent of its share value and let go of thousands of employees. Just this month it changed its name and left Alberta for the oil-rich Permian Basin in Texas where companies are also&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.wsj.com\/articles\/oil-and-gas-bankruptcies-grow-as-investors-lose-appetite-for-shale-11567157401\">losing money<\/a>&nbsp;and going bankrupt.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Investors have become so skeptical about the industry\u2019s ability to generate profits that they\u2019re either openly shunning the sector or refusing to loan it money.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&nbsp;\u2026click on the above link to read the rest of the article\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>UK Ban Adds to the Tremors Taking Down the Fracking Industry How long can BC and Alberta ignore the financial and geological realities facing them? The dramatic decision by the British government to ban the disruptive technology of hydraulic fracturing (or fracking) is just one of two volatile storms now shaking the industry. And both [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,4],"tags":[5549,9246,331,5499],"class_list":["post-49469","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-energy-2","category-environment","tag-andrew-nikiforuk","tag-british-government","tag-fracking","tag-the-tyee"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49469","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=49469"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49469\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":49470,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49469\/revisions\/49470"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=49469"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=49469"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=49469"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}