November 2005 ISSUE
DOING BUSINESS
Province Announces $1.4 Billion for Health Facilities
BY NORDAHL FLAKSTAD
Freelance Writer
The Alberta Government has announced plans to spend $1.4 billion on 20 health-care capital projects throughout the province.
Included is $662 million for six Calgary Health Region projects, among them the new Sheldon M. Chumir Health Centre and an expansion adding 140 new beds to the Peter Lougheed Centre. In the Edmonton region, Capital Health will receive $647 million for 10 projects, including redevelopments of the Royal Alexandra, University, Misericordia and Grey Nuns hospitals in Edmonton to provide over 450 additional beds.
Lethbridge Regional Hospitals will receive $44 million for redevelopment. A further $65 million will go to renovate and expand health facilities in Edson, Barrhead, Viking and High Prairie.
Kitimat Terminal
For Gateway Pipeline
Enbridge Inc. has selected Kitimat, B.C., over rival Prince Rupert as the terminal
for the proposed $4-billion Gateway Pipeline project to carry Alberta oil sands
production to await-ing ocean-going tankers.
“Enbridge is very excited about the Gateway Project and what it will
mean to the north coast of British Columbia,” said Art Meyer, P.Eng., president
of Gateway Pipeline Inc., an affiliate wholly owned by Enbridge.
Construction is expected to start in 2008, with the 1,200-km, Edmonton-to-Kitimat pipeline becoming operational in 2010.
Total Looks Toward
Expanded Presence
Beyond its recent $1.6-billion oil sands acquisition of Deer Creek Energy, French-controlled
Total SA E&P Canada Ltd. is looking to expand its position in Canadian frontier
petroleum developments in regions such as the Mackenzie Delta and the East Coast
offshore.
Christophe de Margerie, executive vice-president of the parent Total SA,
told a Calgary news conference, “We don’t have many countries with such
longer-term fuels or more reserves.”
Total expects to move up the timetable originally proposed by Deer Creek for
the Joslyn lease.
However, Mr. Margerie downplayed suggestions that Total might consider using
nuclear power as an oil sands power source, calling it “very early reflections.”
After initially offering to buy 78 per cent of Deer Creek, Total has raised its stake to 82.4 per cent.
Inter Pipeline Buys Into
British Storage Firm
Inter Pipeline Fund of Calgary is buying Simon Storage Holdings Ltd., Britain’s
largest independent oil and petroleum storage firm, for $250 million. Simon owns
seven deep-water storage terminals in the U.K. and Ireland, and runs 10 fuel
distribution terminals in Great Britain for major oil companies.
LRT Westward Push
Likely to Include
Tunnels, Bridge
Edmonton is looking to expand its light rail transit system westward over the
next two to three decades. The line will pass West Edmonton Mall on its way to
Lewis Estates and will cost a projected $1 billion.
The program could involve a second LRT crossing over the North Saskatchewan River and tunnelling under West End neighbourhoods.
Gordon Menzies, P.Eng., the city’s head of special project planning, said it is important to identify the potential corridor so redevelopment accommodates LRT plans.
Edmonton has also announced it will pay Siemens Canada $98 million for 26 new LRT cars, the first 10 of which are scheduled for delivery in 2008. The purchase is being combined with the acquisition of 33 new cars for Calgary’s CTrain system.
Denver Firm
Buys Focus Corp.
Edmonton-based Focus Corp., which provides a range of engineering, geomatics,
planning and project management services, has been acquired by KRG Capital Partners,
a private equity firm based in Denver.
Focus serves clients in oil and gas, oil sands, infrastructure, land development and environmental projects. Focus — with 13 branch offices in Alberta, British Columbia and Saskatchewan — will continue under its current brand, with the head office remaining in Edmonton.
INCO Takes Over
Rival Falconbridge
INCO Limited and Falconbridge Limited have approved Inco’s acquisition
of all outstanding common shares of Falconbridge. The friendly takeover will
create one of the world’s premier nickel and copper mining and metals companies.
Placer Dome Proceeds
On Dominican Gold
Placer Dome Inc. is proceeding with the Pueblo Viejo gold project in the Dominican
Republic, at an estimated cost of $1 billion US.
The announcement followed news that Placer Dome will proceed with its Cortez Joint Venture in Nevada, which it owns 60 per cent of, and the Wallaby underground project at the Granny Smith mine in Western Australia.
However, Placer Dome also announced it will put on the backburner another potential Latin America development, Cerro Casale in Chile, where it holds a 51 per cent interest. The minority partners have launched a legal challenge.
Edmonton Council Rejects
EPCOR Drainage Takeover
Edmonton City Council has rejected a proposal for EPCOR to take over ownership
of the city’s drainage network, including sewer pipes, stormwater lakes
and the Gold Bar sewage treatment plant.
EPCOR said it could run the drainage system more efficiently and that the proposed
arrangement would help the city-owned utility assume similar opportunities running
water and sewer systems in other municipalities.
About 30 interveners spoke to Council about the proposal. They included Dr. Edo Nyland, P.Geoph., who appeared on behalf of the Edmonton Federation of Community Leagues. “The current system works,” he said. “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”
Also among the presenters was Terasen Utility Services Inc., a rival bidder offering the city $50 million for a long-term lease to operate the drainage network.
Firestone Expands
Alberta Sun Project
Firestone Ventures Inc. has expanded its Alberta Sun uranium project by more
than 14,000 acres, following completion of the first phase of prospecting, mapping
and data evaluation.
Consultants Douglas Underhill and Jim Letourneau, P.Geol., of Big Picture Geoscience Inc., participated in the first phase of fieldwork.
Firestone Ventures now has a 100 per cent interest in more than 110,000 acres of land prospective for sandstone-hosted or "roll-front" uranium deposits in southwestern Alberta.
Firestone President Lori Walton, P.Geol., said: “The price of uranium has increased further to $33 per pound US. We are closely monitoring the current trends, including the large uranium supply deficit, the decline of secondary sources of uranium, increase in nuclear power plant construction, and increased oil and gas prices.”
Alberta and Saskatchewan
Join Forces On Road
Alberta Premier Ralph Klein and his Saskatchewan counterpart Premier Lorne Calvert
have announced plans for a $45-million, joint centennial project to build an
all-weather road linking Fort McMurray and La Loche.
Alberta will complete the 65-km gravel road from Highway 881, near Anzac, to the Saskatchewan border, at a cost of $40 million. Saskatchewan will upgrade Highway 956 from the border to Highway 155, near La Loche.
The road, with construction starting early in 2006 and taking three years, will improve access to job opportunities in Fort McMurray for Saskatchewan residents.
In another development, Alberta Infrastructure and Transportation will spend $11 million earlier than expected to widen and place a pavement overlay on 18 km of Highway 55. The work will take place from La Corey to the junction with Highway 892 west of Cold Lake.
The project is part of an additional $100 million in infrastructure spending allocated by the province earlier this year.
Husky Leads Drilling
In N.W.T. Project
Husky Energy Inc. will serve as operator for a consortium drilling two wells
this winter to prove up the Summit Creek petroleum discovery, 110 km south of
Norman Wells, N.W.T. The discovery was first announced last March.
Besides Husky, the consortium includes Northrock Resources Ltd., EOG Resources Canada Inc. and Pacific Rodera Energy Inc.
L.A. Architect to Design
New Edmonton Gallery
Randall Stout, a Los Angeles architect, has won the international competition
to design Edmonton’s new $48-million art gallery.
The exhibit space of the Edmonton Art Gallery, to be renamed the Art Gallery of Alberta, will be expanded to 80,000 square feet. It will include state-of-the-art climate controls and mechanical systems to better preserve collections. The province is contri-buting $15 million towards the project, which is scheduled for completion in 2009.
More Money
For Nanotechnology
From Ottawa
The federal government is investing $3.5 million in the $120-million National
Institute of Nanotechnology at the University of Alberta. The funding comes on
top of $12 million Ottawa already has invested in the institute.
Increasing Presence
For Coalbed Gas,
EUB Report Says
Alberta production of coalbed methane will increase by a factor of 25 over the
next decade, says the recently released Alberta's Reserves 2004 and Supply/Demand
Outlook 2005-2014.
The report from the Alberta Energy and Utilities Board foresees coalbed methane production of 540 billion cubic feet in 2014, compared with 23 billion cubic feet in 2004. The EUB places established reserves in Alberta to be 263 billion cu. ft.
EnCana Seals Deal with Methanex
EnCana Midstream & Marketing, wholly owned by EnCana Corp., has agreed to
use the Kitimat, B.C., terminal facilities belonging to Methanex Corp., which
in August announced closure of its methanol plant at the West Coast port.
EnCana plans to import up to 25,000 bb/d of offshore diluent for its growing Alberta oil sands production.