Petroleum Giant Pulls Out of Tar Sands Projects in Favor of Wind Power

[OKIsItJustMe]

http://www.collective-evolution.com/2016/12/31/petroleum-giant-pulls-out-of-tar-sands-projects-in-favor-of-wind-power/

[font face=Serif][font size=5]Petroleum Giant Pulls Out of Tar Sands Projects in Favor of Wind Power[/font]

Alexa Erickson—December 31, 2016

[font size=3]With a loss of confidence looming over the Keystone XL pipeline, along with a drop in oil prices, many big companies are opting to halt their plans to extract oil from the Alberta tar sounds.

Within the last year alone, Shell, the French energy company Total, and SunCor Energy of Canada have stopped their contribution to the tar sands projects. Norwegian oil giant Statoil is now the most recent company to pull out.

Statoil pulled its investments from the projects after winning a contract to construct an offshore wind farm in U.S. waters. The company reportedly sold off its tar sand assets within hours of learning of its victory for the wind farm off the coast of New York state.

The option to develop the wind facility put Statoil in the spotlight, particularly as public opinion has shifted from supporting oil extraction to cleaner alternatives. The victory for the oil giant came after a stressful bid process, but the outcome proved worthwhile, and now Statoil has joined a new coordinated program that will develop a series of wind farms off the Atlantic coast.

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[Lithos]

1. They get it

Wind is the better investment - deeper and longer payouts.

L-

[kacekwl]

2. No brainer, realized an investment in alternative energy is good business.

And now they can screw us selling wind power. Sigh.

[OKIsItJustMe]

3. "And now they can screw us selling wind power."

I'm sorry… I don’t get it…

Did you want them to focus on selling us petroleum?

Did you want them to sell you your own wind turbine for your back yard?

Are they somehow preventing you from installing solar panels?

I just don’t get it… What’s the problem here?

[kacekwl]

5. No, as I said it is a good business decision and

a wise move. But when a giant corporation is involved screwed is usually a result. Also I don't have a backyard and rent so I can't install solar panels.

[OKIsItJustMe]

7. So, in what way are we "screwed" by them developing wind power rather than tar sands?

They are selling electricity. You don’t need to buy it from them if you don’t want to. How is it then that you are being “screwed” by them?

Statoil has been working on developing deep sea wind since 2002.

I say, if they make money on their R&D investment, thank you! I just wish Exxon had done the same thing!

If you want, find a “community solar” project.

[northoftheborder]

11. Fascinating!

I see these as beautiful sculptures.

[madokie]

9. I can't do it

so screw anyone who can. Is that where you're coming from in this kind of thinking?

[kacekwl]

12. I think it is a great idea

just stating my concern it will not be enough to just make money on their investment but judging by corporate behavior in the past making MONEY will not be enough. Example, gas here went up again 30 cents a gallon for no good reason. Maybe I'm wrong.

[Wellstone ruled]

4. So that leaves the Koch Brothers as one of

largest holders of Tar Sand lands,like 1.3 million Hectars.

[Phoenix61]

6. Awesome!

And people said renewable power would never be commercially viable. Thanks for posting some good news.

[OKIsItJustMe]

8. You're welcome!

Last edited Sun Jan 1, 2017, 10:06 AM - Edit history (1)

http://www.statoil.com/en/NewsAndMedia/News/2016/Pages/15dec-wind-new-york.aspx

[font face=Serif][font size=5]Statoil wins offshore wind lease in New York [/font]
[font size=4]Statoil has been declared the provisional winner of the U.S. government’s wind lease sale of 79,350 acres offshore New York.[/font]



[font size=3]Statoil will now have the opportunity to explore the potential development of an offshore wind farm to provide New York City and Long Island with a significant, long-term source of renewable electricity.

Statoil submitted a winning bid of $42,469,725 during the online offshore wind auction concluded today by the U.S. Department of the Interior's Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM).

“We are excited to have submitted the most competitive bid in a highly attractive project, Statoil’s first offshore wind lease in the United States. We now look forward to working with New York’s state agencies and contribute to New York meeting its future energy needs by applying our offshore experience and engineering expertise,” says Irene Rummelhoff, Statoil´s executive vice president for New Energy Solutions.

The lease comprises an area that could potentially accommodate more than 1 GW of offshore wind, with a phased development expected to start with 400-600 MW. The New York Wind Energy Area is located 14-30 miles (30-60 km) offshore, spans 79,350 acres (321 km2), and covers water depths between 65 and 131 feet (20-40 meters).

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[NNadir]

13. Here in New Jersey, we will fight it.

If Stadtoil wants to screw up even more sea than it's screwed in Norway, that's it's business, but there's no reason that environmentalists should buy into this bait and switch crap.

There is no good reason to screw the lower classes of Long Island - where I grew up - or New Jersey with high priced unreliable junk that will raise their electricity rates, and be nothing more than a navigation hazard in 20 years, and will, for as long as it operates, depend on crap like the Penn East pipeline from the filthy fracked fields of Pennsylvania.

Stadtoil can go fuck themselves. Like the rest of the shithead oil companies - BP, "Beyond Petroleum" of the Horizon disaster fame - they will not obscure their awful environmental policies by pretending to give a shit about the planet with meaningless, expensive and useless fodder for the poorly educated who believe that so called "renewable energy" is in fact, sustainable.

It hasn't been; it isn't; and it won't be.

[OKIsItJustMe]

10. Statoil's first floating wind turbine