ARC ENERGY IDEAS

This week, the podcast starts with news on the West Coast oil pipeline. On July 2, Prime Minister Mark Carney and Alberta Premier Danielle Smith announced that a pipeline project exceeding 1 MMB/d was ready to be submitted to the Major Projects Office. Earlier that same day, PM Carney and B.C. Premier David Eby announced a Canada–B.C. Cooperative Prosperity Agreement, and, as part of the broader economic agreement, B.C. would not oppose a southern marine terminal for the oil pipeline. 

On July 6, there was more pipeline news, with Ontario Premier Doug Ford and Premier Smi...

This week, our guest is Mike Law, former president and CEO of the Alberta Electric System Operator (AESO). Mike now leads MGL Advisory Services Ltd. and advises several companies, including Energy Alberta, where he is head of power system integration. Energy Alberta is proposing a nuclear generating station in northern Alberta's Peace River region. 

The podcast touches on a long list of Canadian electricity policy initiatives, including the federal government’s Nuclear Energy Strategy (June 22) and the Electricity Strategy (May 14). Other policies that are impacting investment and growth forecasts include the Alberta-Canada MOU, the Clean Electricity Regulations (CER...

This week on the podcast, our guest is Angela Stent, a globally recognized authority on U.S.-Russia relations. Angela has held senior roles at Georgetown University, the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), the Brookings Institution, the U.S. State Department, the National Intelligence Council, and the Council on Foreign Relations, among others. She is also an award-winning author; some of her books include The Limits of Partnership: U.S.-Russian Relations in the Twenty-First Century (2014) and Putin's World: Russia Against the West and with the Rest (2019). 

Russia's war with Ukraine is increasingly becoming an energy war. As Uk...

This week on the podcast, Peter and Jackie begin with the big news of June 14th: the United States and Iran have reached a preliminary agreement to end the war, which takes the form of a memorandum of understanding (MOU). While the agreement leaves numerous details to be settled, both sides expect that shipping will resume through the Strait of Hormuz as a result. 

They then recap last week's episode with the Honourable Brian Jean, Alberta's Minister of Energy and Minerals, and his optimism about changes in the province that are expected to shorten regulatory timelines and a...

This week, our guest is the Honourable Brian Jean, Alberta's Minister of Energy and Minerals. The conversation was recorded at an ARC Financial event in Calgary on June 9. 

The closure of the Strait of Hormuz has underscored the importance of energy security and supply diversity. This, along with more supportive federal policies, is raising expectations for growth in Alberta’s oil and gas sector. 

On the podcast this week, Jackie asks Minister Jean about Alberta’s opportunity to expand oil and gas production, including: Is the Strait of Hormuz closure and the Iran war reshaping how pe...

The podcast opens with updates on the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, a German state-owned energy company contracting for Canadian West Coast LNG, and the Pope's theological document warning about AI. 

Next, Peter and Jackie introduce this week's guest, Marc Spieler, Senior Managing Director for the Global Energy Industry at NVIDIA, joining from Houston, Texas, to discuss the latest developments at the intersection of AI and energy. 

Energy and AI are deeply interlinked. Energy companies are using AI to improve efficiency across oil and gas, renewables, and emerging sources such as next-generation fission and fu...

On May 15, Alberta and Ottawa announced updates to their MOU on carbon markets and energy policy, aimed at advancing a greenfield oil pipeline proposal to Asian markets by July 1, with possible construction readiness after September 2027. The agreement lowers industrial carbon compliance costs and introduces a TIER price floor (called a minimum transfer price), although industry groups still argue that costs remain too high. The new framework also introduces additional complexity and uncertainty around carbon markets. While the deal marks progress toward a West Coast oil export pipeline, key uncertainties remain regarding commitments to the Oil Sands Alliance Pathways CCS...

On May 15, Alberta and Ottawa announced updates to their MOU on carbon markets and energy policy, aimed at advancing a greenfield oil pipeline proposal to Asian markets by July 1, with possible construction readiness after September 2027. The agreement lowers industrial carbon compliance costs and introduces a TIER price floor (called a minimum transfer price), although industry groups still argue that costs remain too high. The new framework also introduces additional complexity and uncertainty around carbon markets. While the deal marks progress toward a West Coast oil export pipeline, key uncertainties remain regarding commitments to the Oil Sands Alliance Pathways CCS...

This week on the podcast, Jackie and Peter are joined by Marcus Rocque, Vice President of Research at the ARC Energy Research Institute. This episode focuses on how the oil and gas shock from the closure of the Strait of Hormuz is reshaping the outlook for clean energy, including how governments are rationing oil and gas use through policies such as work-from-home measures and lower speed limits. There is already evidence of increasing sales of alternatives, including EVs, heat pumps, and electric cookstoves. 

The shortage, however, is also expected to increase demand for coal as an alternative i...

This week, our guest is Rory Johnston, a Toronto-based oil market researcher, the founder of Commodity Context, and, among other things, the host of the Oil Ground Up podcast.  

Peter and Jackie open the show with highlights from the federal government’s economic update, Polymarket bets on the Middle East conflict, and the shift in AI companies toward pay-per-use models over unlimited access. 

They then turn to oil markets, asking Rory: What’s your take on the UAE’s announcement about leaving OPEC? You recently wrote on your Commodity Context Substack that the oil market reaction...

The podcast opens with major news: Shell’s agreement to acquire ARC Resources, signaling strong confidence in LNG Canada Phase 2, the broader Canadian LNG sector, and the quality of the Montney resource. It also marks a shift, as this is the first major multinational acquisition in Canada following a long period of exits. 

Jackie and Peter discuss additional developments, including Minister Hodgson’s comments on major projects reaching FID or construction within a year and Prime Minister Carney’s announcement of a C$25 billion sovereign wealth fund. The episode then features the Honourable Tim Houston, Premier of Nova Sc...

This week on the podcast, Peter and Jackie are joined by Stewart Muir, President and CEO of Resource Works, a leading voice in Canada’s natural resource sector with a focus on British Columbia. 

Peter and Jackie open the episode with a discussion of the latest geopolitical developments, including escalating tensions involving Iran and the resulting volatility in oil prices over the weekend, as the Strait of Hormuz opened and then quickly closed. They also review the news of Prime Minister Mark Carney’s newly elected majority government, what it could mean for energy policy, and his recen...

This week on the podcast, our guest is Rich Kruger, President and Chief Executive Officer of Suncor Energy Inc. 

Rich explains key messages from the company's recent Investor Day presentation, including its transformation in safety, operations, and financial metrics over the past three years.   

Here are some of the questions that Peter and Jackie asked Rich: What is Suncor’s production now, and what is your 3-year growth plan?  How do oil sands costs stack up against U.S. shale? How much capital are you returning to shareholders, and how do you respond to criticism that S...

This week on the podcast, we welcome back Deborah Yedlin, President and CEO of the Calgary Chamber of Commerce. 

Deborah returned to the show to discuss the April 1 deadline for key deliverables under the Canada-Alberta Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), signed in late November 2025. 

The conversation covered a wide range of topics, including: 

This week on the podcast, Jackie and Peter unpack key themes from the CERAWeek conference held in Houston from March 23–27, 2026. 

Highlights from the conference include: 

This week, our guest is the Honourable Tim Hodgson, Canada’s Minister of Energy and Natural Resources. The conversation was recorded at CERAWeek in Houston on March 24, 2026. 

Here are some of the questions Jackie asked Minister Hodgson: How is Canadian energy being perceived at CERAWeek, particularly in the context of the war in the Middle East? Do you expect that Canada will meet the Prime Minister’s targets of 50 million tonnes per annum of LNG exports by 2030 and potentially double that by 2040? What steps is Canada taking to attract the hundreds of billions in capital required to advan...

Over the past decade, the Canadian economy has been driven largely by consumption and government spending, while business investment has remained relatively flat. To accelerate Canada’s economic growth, an objective emphasized by Prime Minister Mark Carney, Canada will need stronger business investment, particularly investments with the “one-two punch” of growing the economy through increased capital spending in the early years and greater exports in the longer term. 

To explore the historical drivers of GDP and what expanded export capacity could mean for Canada’s economy, Mark Parsons, Vice President and Chief Economist at ATB Financial, joins Jackie an...

This week on the podcast, Jackie and Peter review developments in the Iran war, which entered its tenth day at the time of recording on the morning of March 9, 2026. 

The U.S. reports striking thousands of targets in Iran during the first week of the conflict and damaging or destroying more than 40 Iranian naval vessels. In response, Iran and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) have launched missiles and drones across more than ten countries in the region. 

Energy infrastructure across the Middle East has also been targeted, including facilities in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain, Ku...

On February 28, the United States and Israel launched an attack on Iran, killing the Supreme Leader along with other senior leaders of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). In his initial statements following the attack, President Trump signaled that regime change was a potential objective. 

Iran responded aggressively, targeting a range of military, civilian, and energy infrastructure across nine countries at the time of recording. Energy facilities have been hit, including a refinery in Saudi Arabia and LNG export facilities in Qatar. The Strait of Hormuz, a strategic chokepoint handling roughly one-fifth of global oil flows and a...

Prime Minister Mark Carney has said Canada needs to “build at speeds not seen in generations.” More than ten major projects have now been referred to the Major Projects Office (MPO). Assuming that all of the projects move forward in the next few years, will Canada have enough skilled workers to deliver them? 

To explore this question, our guest this week is Sean Strickland, Executive Director of Canada’s Building Trades Unions. Canada’s Building Trades Unions is the voice of the country’s construction workers, representing more than 600,000 skilled tradespeople across Canada. 

Here are some of the...

This week on the podcast, we’re sharing highlights from a conversation at the 8th Annual Haskayne School of Business PETRONAS International Energy Speaker Series held on February 11, 2026. 

Jackie Forrest moderated a sold-out session featuring award-winning author Edward Fishman, whose recent book Chokepoints: American Power in the Age of Economic Warfare, explores the rise of U.S. geoeconomic strategy. Mr. Fishman is a Senior Research Scholar at the Center on Global Energy Policy and an Adjunct Professor of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University. 

Joining the discussion was Robert (RJ) Johnston, Director of Energy and...

This week on the podcast, our guest is Brandon Moffatt, Chief Development Officer at StormFisher Hydrogen. StormFisher Hydrogen develops projects that repurpose energy, water, and power, with a focus on green hydrogen and e-fuels across the North American market. The company is currently advancing a low-carbon methanol project in Varennes, Quebec. 

The conversation begins with an overview of green hydrogen–derived products, including e-methane, e-methanol, and green ammonia. Brandon explains why e-methanol is emerging as a leading end-use for green-hydrogen-derived fuels, particularly for marine shipping and aviation. 

The discussion then turns to Canada’s competitive advant...

This week on the podcast, Peter and Jackie review some of the latest developments in clean energy and the broader energy transition — including a discussion of terminology, with Peter advocating for a return to the older term “alternative energy”. 

They begin by discussing Bloomberg New Energy Finance’s latest “Energy Transition Investment Trends (2026)”, which finds that global investment in the energy transition reached a record $2.3 trillion in 2025, up 8 % from 2024. 

Next, they review a set of charts from a 200-slide deck released by Nat Bullard, an annual presentation on the state of decarbonization. Nat describes himself as a “climate...

This week on the podcast, Jackie and Peter are joined by Marcus Rocque, Vice President of Research at the ARC Energy Research Institute. This episode focuses on Canadian federal carbon policy, including a discussion of the carbon pricing policy for large industrial emitters and the recently finalized methane regulations, which target a 75% reduction by 2030 (relative to 2012). The discussion centers on how these policies affect competitiveness, investment, and infrastructure development in Canada's natural gas and oil sector. 

They start by discussing Prime Minister Carney’s recent speech at Davos. Next, they review recent developments in Canadian carbon policy, inc...

This week on the podcast, we welcome back Rob West, founder and CEO of Thunder Said Energy.  Founded in 2019, the firm provides research that helps decision-makers identify energy opportunities. Based in Estonia, nine time zones away, Rob is an exceptionally productive energy expert whose work spans a wide range of topics. 

We begin by walking through Rob’s Top Ten Themes for Energy in 2026, including the continued steady growth in global oil demand, a waning focus on net zero, EVs, and decarbonization. With that lens, we also discuss Canada’s Pathways carbon capture and storage (CCS) project. Rob th...

Predicting the Unpredictable: Energy and Geopolitics in 2026 

This week, Peter and Jackie kick off the year with their 2026 outlook. They begin by asking a fundamental question: How relevant are predictions in an increasingly unpredictable world? 

While acknowledging the limits of forecasting, they outline key themes and directional expectations for 2026—and remind leaders that, in times like these, scenario development, continuous monitoring, and course correction are far more valuable than rigid forecasts. 

The discussion focuses on four major areas shaping the outlook for Canadian energy, spanning oil and gas and clean energy technologies: