Hope Springs Eternal

Reuters via Rigzone is reporting that Canada still bets that the US approves the Keystone:

Canada remains confident Washington will ultimately approve the Keystone XL pipeline to the U.S. Gulf Coast, two prominent cabinet ministers said on Friday, adding that the latest U.S. delay is political and not based on environmental concerns.

In his first public remarks on the controversial project, the country's new energy minister, Greg Rickford, said he hoped the Obama administration will "depoliticize" its decision on Keystone XL and give it the green light.

"On the Keystone, we're still very hopeful ... that this will go ahead sooner rather than later, and it will simply add to the economic benefits of pipeline transmission of energy products," Rickford told reporters after a speech in the Toronto suburb of Mississauga on Friday.

"Obviously we hope sooner rather than later that this is depoliticized, if you will, and that the communities along the pipeline, which include Canada and the United States, can reap the tremendous economic benefits of Keystone," he said. 

This must have been an extremely slow news day over at Reuters. 

"The sooner the better"? It's been six years.


Does anything else need to be said?

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Oil Firms Bringing In The Big Guns To Extend The Life Of The North Sea Oil Fields

Reuters via Rigzone is also reporting:

Smaller oil producers are teaming up with engineering and oil services companies in Britain's North Sea to squeeze extra drops from aging facilities before rising costs force them to close.

Improving "wrench time" - hours spent at work sites rather than on assessments and form-filling - and bringing in specialist teams to boost recovery rates, will help prevent early decommissioning, industry participants say. Oil services companies are competing to take on "late life" asset work, providing the expertise that smaller producers lack. 

Peak Oil, anyone?

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Brazil Looking To Chinese For More Investing

Reuters via Rigzone is reporting:

China might be slowing economically but it still wants to buy more oil from Latin America and invest in infrastructure in the region, with a presidential visit planned for July, Chinese and Brazilians officials said on Friday.

As host of the 2014 soccer World Cup, Brazil is hoping Chinese President Xi Jinping, who is known to be a fan of the sport, will attend the final game on July 13 in Rio de Janeiro's legendary Maracaná stadium.

Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff recently said Brazil's partners in the BRICS group of leading emerging nations asked for the summit that she will host be rescheduled for two days after the World Cup so their leaders could attend. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, on a one-day visit to Brasilia on a Latin American swing, did not confirm Xi would accept Brazil's invitation to attend the World Cup final.

Wang reinforced China's interest in setting up a fund to increase investment in infrastructure that is lacking in Latin America, where China gets much of its raw materials, such as iron ore, oil and soy beans.