Canada, You Own A Pipeline, Now What?

Canada, You Own A Pipeline, Now What?

Trans Mountain Pipeline has operated since 1953. wikipedia.org

Kinder Morgan sold it to the Canadian Federal Government in 2018 for $4.5 billion. cbc.ca

The Trans Mountain Expansion, the most expensive infrastructure project and, oddly, the largest archaeological program in Canadian history, went online on May 1st this year. After delays and increased expenses for construction, it cost taxpayers $34 billion. theglobeandmail.com, canadianenergycentre.ca, theconversation.com

The hope was that unlocking the flow of 600,000 incremental barrels of bitumen daily from Alberta through the mountains to the port in Burnaby, British Columbia, would shrink the discount on Canadian production versus U.S. crude. But that hasn’t happened yet. reuters.com

The plan was also to lessen Canadian energy dependency on sales to the United States and open up to international markets. And that’s kinda working. Statistics Canada reported “that the country’s surprise trade surplus in June was partly fuelled by a 13.3-per-cent increase in crude oil exports, mostly to Asian countries, thanks to the Trans Mountain pipeline’s expanded capacity.” theglobeandmail.com, financialpost.com, sherwoodparknews.com, bnnbloomberg.ca

A lot has changed since the expansion project was conceived over a decade ago. We’re in an awkward transition to renewable energy in Canada while still being one of the top 5 global oil producers. Canada’s increased oil production in the last year is greater than the entire production capacity of some other countries. At the same time, both the International Energy Agency and BloombergNEF predict that global demand will peak within the next five years. theglobeandmail.com, bloomberg.com, cbc.ca, economics.td.com

The feds hope that “every dollar the federal government earns from this project will be invested in Canada’s clean energy transition.” cbc.ca, pm.gc.ca

That math might not add up since it could take decades to cover the cost of building it in the first place. In the interim, Trans Mountain Corp. plans to refinance some of its outstanding debt. “TMX operations will contribute C$9.2 billion to Canadian GDP and C$2.8 billion in taxes over 20 years from 2024 to 2043, according to Ernst & Young.” bnnbloomberg.ca, reuters.com

Does anyone want to buy a pipeline? Just tweet at this dude. He’s got one he wants to sell. x.com/JustinTrudeau

China’s Automotive Expansion

BYD plans to build EVs in Pakistan. cnevpost.com

BYD opens their first dealership in Sri Lanka. cnevpost.com

Xpeng announces advanced charging that powers up 300km of range in 5 minutes. gizmochina.com

BMW has a Takata airbag problem in China. reuters.com

CATL opens an “experience centre” to show off vehicles that use their batteries. cnevpost.com

EU tariffs slow the sale of Chinese electric vehicles in July. europe.autonews.com

Must Know Musk News

The Donald was “interviewed” by Elon for two whole fucking hours on Twitter (X), sounded weird, had some technical issues, threw Truth Social under the bus, and may have violated federal campaign regulations. bbc.com, cnn.com, reuters.com, newrepublic.com, forbes.com, businessinsider.com, x.com 

In the interview, EV-loving Elon told the Donald that “we shouldn’t vilify the oil and gas industry.” theverge.com

The UAW filed federal labour charges against the Donald and Elon for their discussion supporting the practice of firing employees who threaten to strike. cnbc.com

The Boring Company started testing Prufrock 4. teslarati.com

Archimedes jacked up a Cybertruck to give you an even more “apocalypse-ready” vehicle. carscoops.com

The “base” price for a Cybertruck is now almost $100,000 USD. theverge.com

Tesla stores hundreds of new vehicles in tall grass fields in Florida. carscoops.com

Grok from xAI can make nearly any kind of image. And that’s going to be a problem. theverge.com

Rise Of The Machines

“Hej” Ikea workers, we’re watching you (with our inventory counting hover drones). theverge.com

Apple plans to build a tabletop tablet-bot. bloomberg.com

North Carolina State University engineers built a proto-transformer that isn’t “more than meets the eye” but can transform into over 1,000 configurations. space.com

Shake Shack enlists Serve Robotics Inc. to deploy burger delivery bots in Los Angeles. therobotreport.com

Energy

“China added as much new clean energy generation in the first half of this year as the UK produced from all sources in the same period last year.” theguardian.com

Breakthrough in ultra-high pressure drilling could open up access to up to 5 billion barrels of crude previously inaccessible. reuters.com

Some US oil refiners are throttling production, adding to concerns that a global glut of crude is forming. fortune.com

China's Mingyang sets up a factory and supplies turbines for a floating project in Italy. rechargenews.com

Ukraine plans to build out wind and solar power capacity to relieve its war-torn power system. rechargenews.com

Ford and TXU Energy partnered to give customers free EV charging at home. theverge.com

But Wait, There’s More

For about $2.5 million, you can own the 2,078 horsepower, all-electric Rimac Nevera R. caranddriver.com, driving.ca, motor1.com, techcrunch.com

Lamborghini unveiled the Temerario, a new V-8 hybrid that replaces the Huracan (with half the horsepower of the Rimac). In EV mode, it’s front-wheel drive. caranddriver.com, driving.ca, motor1.com

Cadillac’s “Opulent Velocity” is an ultra-luxury performance concept from the future. cnbc.com

Acura shows off a new fancy EV concept that The Verge says looks like an “angry sports boat.” theverge.com, acuranews.com, youtube.com

Lincoln's new Navigator, with its 48-inch dash-spanning "Horizon" display, helps ensure you hit your screen-time quota. motortrend.com, caranddriver.com, theverge.com, motor1.com, canada.autonews.com

BMW 5M wagon coming to North America. arstechnica.com

Toyota makes 5 out of the top 10 longest-lasting vehicles on the road. autoblog.com

Ford recalls 85,000 cop Explorers over engine fire risk. abcnews.go.com

Shareholders sue Stellantis in the US over poor earnings. reuters.com

Goodyear Canada will invest half a billion dollars in expanding the southeastern Ontario plant. cbc.ca

Mahindra desperately wants to be Jeep. carscoops.com

Part shortages have impacted Rivian’s Electric Delivery Van (EDV) production for Amazon and everyone else. reuters.com

Railway strikes could be devastating to the automotive industry and shipping at large. “Canadian National Railway Co. and Canadian Pacific Kansas City Ltd. warned Friday that lockouts on Aug. 22 are imminent unless new contracts with their employees can be secured.” cbc.ca, globalnews.ca, canada.autonews.com

Kick Out The Jams

JJ Wilde is not crazy, you’re just an asshole. youtube.com

If the world were ending, Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars would want to be next to you. youtube.com

Moby and Choklate don't feel like going home. youtube.com

T-Pain is on a hill (with a choir). youtube.com

Marilyn Manson raises the red flag (which is the white one soaked in blood). youtube.com

Kat Von D is experiencing the truth in reverse. youtube.com

Bishop Briggs wants you to kiss her so hard that you both pass out. youtube.com

This Oceans Ate Alaska video kinda makes me want to play drums again. youtube.com

Generation Y did a fun jazz cover of Nirvana. youtube.com