Energy
DO OR DO NOT: Canada is Missing in Action – Jeff Lawson of Cenovus Energy
From Energy Now
By Jeff Lawson
After touring Cenovus operations in China and Indonesia, Jeff Lawson reflects on Asia’s energy reality and what it means for Canada.
My recent trip to our operations in China and Indonesia was an incredibly valuable chance to see world energy trends up close.
Witnessing the dynamism and ambition of our teams in those countries was inspiring, and I am grateful to our kind hosts. But I couldn’t escape the stark contrast with the situation at home.
I should have returned feeling optimistic, but instead I came back feeling down. At the end of the day, seeing what other places in the world are doing only highlights one difficult truth: As an economic force, Canada is missing in action.
What most enriched my visit was meeting our own people. In China, our teams are incredibly happy working in the energy industry. They are motivated, because they see the purpose in their work every day, delivering the foundational products that lift communities out of poverty.
That same clarity of purpose is evident in the market itself.
In Indonesia our local production is fully consumed in-country. Overall, they face declining natural gas reserves, and with a growing population the need for imports is critical. There is a desire for Canadian supply. We just need to get it there.
From a global perspective, the LNG we are now finally shipping is still a drop in the bucket. For Canada, however, it represents a massive and vital step forward.
Meeting Asia’s demand for natural gas can become an even greater opportunity if we choose.
Thinking about natural gas demand throughout the world, we receive $12/Mcf for our natural gas in China. We only receive $1-2/Mcf in Canada (pundits will say that is optimistic), even though we have abundant Canadian supply. Our limitations are infrastructure and offtake facilities.
It’s a competitive world. Markets around the world desire what we provide, whether that’s oil and gas, minerals, or agriculture.
Yet, here at home, some people seem unable to grasp this.
The Trans Mountain Expansion Project took a decade and more than $35 billion to build.
We still face a host of policies that box our energy industry in. It’s the Emissions Cap that creates fundamental uncertainty. It’s the North Coast tanker ban that limits our market reach. It’s the cumulative weight of policies like the methane regulations and industrial carbon tax that makes it nearly impossible to allocate capital with confidence.
And the world now sees Canada as a difficult and unpredictable place to do business. Investor capital is mobile, and it will flow to jurisdictions that provide clarity and predictability.
There are fewer burdens and lower costs involved in moving our product south to the United States, and the U.S. is a key consumer of our energy products. But while that path is easier, and existing pipelines can be expanded, it is not a long-term strategy for national strength if egress remains constrained.
Over-reliance on a single customer leaves us vulnerable, as we have learned within the last year. If Canada wants to become stronger and truly diversify for the long-run, we have to drive to tidewater.
Recent messages from political leaders have been correct, but the action hasn’t yet followed.
This isn’t about slowly moving impediments out of the way; this is about deeper, more effective change that enables us to compete, backed by genuine federal-provincial alignment.
How we decide to compete with the rest of the world, or not, is up to us. As the saying goes, “Do or do not, there is no try.” Saying we’re trying is not getting us there.
Jeff Lawson is Executive Vice-President, Corporate Development & Chief Sustainability Officer at Cenovus Energy.
From the Daily Caller News Foundation
By Audrey Streb
“In line with President Donald Trump’s Energy Dominance Agenda, Interior is putting an immediate stop to these costly failures to deliver a stronger energy future and lower costs for American families. Like President Trump said, ‘the days of stupidity are over in the USA!’”
The Daily Caller News Foundation learned on Friday that the Department of the Interior (DOI) is immediately halting all activity on a massive offshore wind project.
The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) under the DOI is halting activity on the “Revolution Wind” project off the coast of Rhode Island and Connecticut in line with President Donald Trump’s energy goals to boost reliable energy resources and lower costs for Americans, the agency told the DCNF. The Trump administration has dealt a series of recent blows to the wind industry, with the DOI ending “preferential treatment” for what it considers to be foreign-controlled and unreliable energy sources and moving to terminate the massive Lava Ridge Wind Project in southern Idaho that the Biden administration approved just weeks before Trump’s return to office.
“Americans deserve energy that is affordable, reliable, and built to last — not experimental and expensive wind projects that are proven failures,” DOI deputy press secretary Aubrie Spady told the DCNF. “In line with President Donald Trump’s Energy Dominance Agenda, Interior is putting an immediate stop to these costly failures to deliver a stronger energy future and lower costs for American families. Like President Trump said, ‘the days of stupidity are over in the USA!’”
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The Biden administration approved the construction plan for Revolution Wind in 2023, which is located on the federally-owned Outer Continental Shelf. While former President Joe Biden pushed for wind and solar technology throughout his term by greenlighting billions in subsidies, loans and grants, the Trump administration has shifted its focus to conventional and reliable energy sources and taken action to crackdown on federal support for the green energy technology the Biden administration favored.
Trump signed an executive order directing the DOI to “revise any identified regulations, guidance, policies, and practices as appropriate and consistent with applicable law to eliminate any such preferences for wind and solar facilities” on July 7. Trump campaigned against Biden’s push for green energy and has continued to rail against Biden’s climate agenda, writing on Truth Social Wednesday that “any State that has built and relied on WINDMILLS and SOLAR for power are seeing RECORD BREAKING INCREASES IN ELECTRICITY AND ENERGY COSTS. THE SCAM OF THE CENTURY! We will not approve wind or farmer destroying Solar. The days of stupidity are over in the USA!!! MAGA.”
The agency introduced an additional permitting roadblock for green energy projects on public lands on Aug. 1., and a few days later, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum wrote on X that wind projects “are known to kill eagles” and that his agency would enforce the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act to protect eagles. The Trump administration also pulled a permit for a massive pending New Jersey offshore wind project in March.
The wind industry has come under fire in recent years, as multiple beaches closed in 2024 after a broken wind turbine shed debris into the ocean off the coast of Nantucket and protests surged due to concerns about high-voltage cables running through neighborhoods in 2023. Environmentalists also raised concerns over the energy technology after dolphins washed up along the East Coast in 2023.
Some fishermen have also voiced opposition to offshore wind projects, arguing that their industry cannot survive alongside offshore wind farms.
From the Daily Caller News Foundation
By Audrey Streb
The Department of the Interior (DOI) released a long-term offshore leasing schedule on Tuesday to boost American energy, standing in contrast with former President Joe Biden’s crackdown on offshore leasing for oil and gas.
In line with the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA), the DOI announced a schedule for offshore oil and gas lease sales in the Gulf of America and Alaska’s Cook Inlet, aiming to hold four lease sales by next August and 10 offshore lease sales by 2028, according to the DOI. While the Biden administration clamped down on offshore oil and gas leasing, enacting a last-minute drilling ban across millions of acres and greenlighting a record-low leasing schedule, the Trump administration has moved to reopen federal lands and waters that were locked up.
“The One Big Beautiful Bill Act is a landmark step toward unleashing America’s energy potential,” said Interior Secretary Doug Burgum on Tuesday. “Under President Trump’s leadership, we’re putting in place a bold, long-term program that strengthens American Energy Dominance, creates good-paying jobs and ensures we continue to responsibly develop our offshore resources.”
The first sale under the new law will be titled “Big Beautiful Gulf 1” and is scheduled for Dec. 10, 2025, according to the DOI. The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) will also publish the final notice at least 30 days before the sale, according to the DOI.
The agency noted that the Gulf of America and Alaska’s Cook Inlet both present great potential for expanding American energy and that the lease sales are expected to minimize dependence on foreign imports. About 14.5% of American oil was produced from wells in the Gulf of America in 2022, according to the Energy Information Administration.
Trump signed an executive order to “unleash American energy” and declared a national energy emergency on his first day back in the Oval Office. The OBBBA has also called for more domestic energy opportunities, allowing the DOI to “immediately resume quarterly onshore oil and gas lease sales in compliance with the Mineral Leasing Act” and to hold oil and gas lease sales on available land across several states in the Midwest.
While the Trump administration has focused on boosting conventional energy sources like coal, oil and gas, the Biden administration went all-in with a green energy agenda, approving several massive offshore wind and solar projects. The Biden administration created hurdles for oil and gas both offshore and onshore, leasing a measly amount of acres all while gasoline prices soared. Notably, the Biden administration also froze liquified natural gas (LNG) exports and Biden blocked the major Keystone XL pipeline on his first day as president.
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