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When Rick George officially retires from Suncor Energy Inc. at the end of July, if at all possible, it would be highly appropriate if he could wrap it up and tie it with a bow. What well-crafted business artistry that at the same time George reaches retirement age, the company that he has piloted for more than 20 years is not only at the top of its game but well positioned to remain so—and in a state of perpetual growth—for years to come.

The failure of the Keystone XL pipeline expansion to the U.S. Gulf Coast to obtain approval—yet again—from the U.S. State Department in November 2011 set off a flurry of strategic pipeline announcements aimed at draining the growing oil glut in U.S. Midwest storage facilities. A new front-runner in the race to get Canadian oilsands production to underutilized Texas Gulf Coast refiners is now Enbridge Inc.

Bitumen-bashers really have no idea of the heartfelt effort industry members pour into continuous improvement in the standards of practice for producing the oilsands.

Imperial Oil sanctions Kearl mine expansion, adding to growing heat in project costs

“You can turn off your lights and freeze in the dark. The alternative is to use the energy, which of course you are using. Everybody is using.” —Joe Oliver, Canada’s Minister of Natural Resources, BBC News–Business, Nov. 29.

Somewhere amongst the latest batch of visitors to Statoil ASA’s Leismer demonstration project is Norwegian Minister of Petroleum and Energy Ola Borten Moe. It isn’t immediately obvious because, by world standards, Borten Moe seems too young to be a national politician.

Bob McClements has had a long association with the oilsands industry. He was construction manager for Sun Oil Company’s (Sunoco) original Great Canadian Oil Sands plant and the first plant manager when it went on stream in 1967. When it commissioned that pioneering plant, Sunoco was one of the largest integrated oil companies in the world. In the 1980s McClements rose to its highest ranks, becoming president and chief executive officer.

The Pembina Institute has raised serious concerns about environmental risks associated with proposed oilsands transport projects, particularly the Keystone XL pipeline to the U.S. Gulf Coast and the Northern Gateway pipeline to the B.C. coast. In late November Pembina and two other green groups, the Natural Resources Defense Council and Living Oceans Society, issued the report Pipeline and Tanker Trouble, arguing that the Gateway pipeline would create significant social, economic and environmental costs if a bitumen spill were to occur along the route. One of the authors of that report was Nathan Lemphers, senior policy analyst for Pembina.

Upcoming events—February 2012 1 Government of Alberta oilsands land sale http://www.energy.alberta.ca/OilSands/831.asp

So, you just got wind that you are about to be sued, or somebody is thinking about suing you, or threatening to sue you, or maybe you actually have been sued. Either you know about the claim, or the circumstances are such that you ought to know what’s coming. In your organization, you have some records, documents, correspondence and the like. Most of these documents and records will be electronic, and will include correspondence that is likely to be primarily emails.

In October 1991, a newly hired Suncor Energy Inc. executive got her first look at the company’s oilsands mine and upgrader near Fort McMurray. Although as executive vice-president, oilsands, she would run the operation, she had not previously visited the site; apparently company officials did not want to upset the man she was replacing. And what she saw there was not pretty: rickety bucket-wheels and conveyors, perilously perched tailings ponds, a problem-plagued upgrader and an unreliable power plant. Operating costs were $19 per barrel at a time when oil was selling for $17.