Alberta energy junior Questerre seeks to test Quebec’s ban on oil and gas development
NICOLAS VAN PRAET
MONTREAL
PUBLISHED 2 HOURS AGO
UPDATED 10 MINUTES AGO
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Canadian energy junior Questerre Energy Corp. has struck an economic development pact with an Indigenous group in Quebec to develop a zero-emissions natural gas hub on traditional First Nations territory, a move that kicks against Quebec’s stated ban on any future oil and gas development.
Questerre has signed a preliminary agreement with the Council of the Abenakis of Wolinak focused on developing what it called a “net-zero emissions energy hub” in the Bécancour region, Calgary-based Questerre said in a news release Thursday. The effort will centre on several pilot projects that produce clean energy including natural gas, the company said.
The Abenakis will be given a share in profits from the development on their land, according to the release. And they’ll also have an opportunity to acquire a working interest in Questerre’s exploration licenses and participate in future development.
The deal is a potentially prickly one for Quebec Premier François Legault because it flies in the face of the province’s official position on oil and gas exploration and extraction. Mr. Legault has made it clear in recent months that there will be no further hydrocarbon development in the province and his government has been working on how best to compensate the companies holding some 180 active exploration permits, including Questerre. But dousing the economic growth ambitions of a First Nation could prove problematic.
“This is setting up an interesting showdown with the government,” Questerre Chief Executive Michael Binnion said in an interview, adding that the Abenakis of Wolinak have a long history in Quebec that pre-dates the arrival of French colonists. “Our view is that they should let us go ahead.”
Quebec has enough natural gas to meet its own needs for an estimated 100 years or more, most of it concentrated in the province’s portion of the Utica shale formation along the southern flank of the St. Lawrence River. But it remains untapped after significant public opposition to early drilling efforts, forcing Quebec to buy its gas from producers in Western Canada.
Questerre alone holds the license rights to more than one million gross acres of farmland in the province. The company’s efforts to develop natural gas projects have been repeatedly thwarted by government moratoriums and its market value has collapsed.
Still, the company continues to try to carve out a place for itself in Quebec. It is shifting its resources and attention towards new technologies in a bid to produce clean energy it says could help the province meet its climate goals. And it has spent the last three years building social acceptability for its plans, in part by striking profit sharing deals with towns in the Bécancour area as well as the Abenakis.
“With the many tragic events in Quebec and Canada, we believe that reconciliation has to move beyond words and to real action,” Council Chief Michel Bernard of the Wolinak Abenakis said in a statement. “We are pleased that Questerre has spent the past few years getting to know us, our history and our land in Quebec. They are the first company to fully recognize our traditional use territories and commit to move forward with full consultation and cooperation with our people. This agreement could bring the prosperity to our Nation and equality for our people while protecting the environment.”
Questerre is proposing to produce natural gas with hydroelectricity so there are no emissions, Mr. Binnion said. It wants to build two pipelines in the Bécancour area – one carrying carbon dioxide and another carrying natural gas. The company would sell the gas to local industrial clients while taking back the carbon dioxide and storing it, he said. It has submitted an application to government authorities to test a carbon-sequestration reservoir.
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Quebec is pushing a ban on oil and gas development for climate reasons but what Questerre is proposing has no emissions, Mr. Binnion said. “So where’s the climate reason in that? This will be fewer emissions than wind and solar.”
A spokeswoman for Jonatan Julien, Quebec’s minister of energy and natural resources, did not respond to a request for comment.
Heading into an election year, Mr. Legault will be keen to protect any credibility he has gained in the public eye on environmental issues, said Christian Bourque, executive vice-president at polling firm Leger Marketing. But Questerre’s pact with the Abenakis makes it more difficult for his government to reject the proposal outright, he said.
“The discourse in Quebec and pretty much anywhere else in the country has changed towards Indigenous peoples. And this would be throwing a rock in the pond. It’s certainly a huge level of complexity added to the issue.”
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Binnon har laget en avtale med urfolket i Québec og gjørs det derfor veldig vanskelig for regjeringen å si nei til prosjektet til qec. Urfolket i Canada har i det siste vunnet større forståelse for sin sak og den urett de har vært utsatt for. Trudaue er på deres side. Denne avtalen er således et geni stek an Binnon. Ser kursen i Canada går opp og volumet er bra. Spennende dag i morgen.
Den her kan gå noe så sinnsykt.
Ett lite utdrag oversatt til norsk fra artikkelen over:
Questerre har signert en foreløpig avtale med Council of the Abenakis of Wolinak fokusert på å utvikle det det kalte et “netto-null-utslipp energisenter” i Bécancour-regionen, sa Calgary-baserte Questerre i en pressemelding torsdag. Innsatsen vil fokusere på flere pilotprosjekter som produserer ren energi inkludert naturgass, sa selskapet.
Abenakiene vil få en andel i overskuddet fra utbyggingen på deres land, ifølge utgivelsen. Og de vil også ha en mulighet til å skaffe seg en arbeidsinteresse i Questerres letelisenser og delta i fremtidig utvikling.
Avtalen er potensielt stikkende for Quebec-premier François Legault fordi den er i strid med provinsens offisielle holdning til leting og utvinning av olje og gass. Herr Legault har gjort det klart de siste månedene at det ikke vil være ytterligere hydrokarbonutbygging i provinsen, og hans regjering har jobbet med hvordan man best kan kompensere selskapene som har rundt 180 aktive letetillatelser, inkludert Questerre. Men å sløyfe de økonomiske vekstambisjonene til en First Nation kan vise seg å være problematisk.
“Dette setter opp et interessant oppgjør med regjeringen,” sa Questerre-sjef Michael Binnion i et intervju, og la til at Abenakis fra Wolinak har en lang historie i Quebec som går før ankomsten av franske kolonister. “Vårt syn er at de bør la oss gå videre.”
0,39 i canada, er vel 2,90nkr?
0.39 x7.05 =2.75
Landet på 0.40, 25% 
Hentet fra annet forum. Viser hvilken genistrek Binnion har gjort:
First Nations Land Management Act - viktig
QEC I går kl 23:39 1195
Jeg anbefaler alle aksjonærer å lese dette, som forteller hvor enormt mye denne avtalen betyr; What is the First Nations Land Management Act? - JFK Law - Canada
Sitat “A First Nation has the power to manage its reserve land pursuant to its land code. It may exercise the powers, rights and privileges of an owner in relation to the land, grant interests, rights or licences in relation to the land, manage the land’s natural resources, and receive and use all moneys acquired under its land code.”
“Canada vedtok formelt et rammeverk for anerkjennelse og implementering i juni i fjor.
I tillegg til å anerkjenne politiske rettigheter, fastsetter erklæringen tydelig at urfolk har rett til naturressursene som ligger på deres land.
Han påpeker at denne avtalen kommer på et tidspunkt da Quebec-regjeringen vurderer å fremme et lovforslag som vil gjøre den til eneeier av naturgasstitler med det erklærte målet å forby produksjon.
Imidlertid argumenterer hans forening for at prinsippet om selvbestemmelse må tas i betraktning av regjeringer siden vedtakelsen i FN av erklæringen om urfolks rettigheter. Canada vedtok formelt et rammeverk for anerkjennelse og implementering i juni i fjor.
I tillegg til å anerkjenne politiske rettigheter, fastsetter erklæringen tydelig at urfolk har rett til naturressursene som ligger på deres land” Sa presidenten for Quebec Energy Association, Éric Tétrault.
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This is quite clever. Last October the province of Quebec, Canada announced it will expropriate all of the rights for all oil and gas companies in the province to drill and extract oil and natural gas (see Lights Out for All O&G Production in Quebec, Including Utica Shale). It’s all being shut down–including actively producing wells. Questerre Energy Corp., which owns more than one million acres of Utica Shale leases in Quebec, may have just found a way around Quebec’s oil and gas drilling ban.
Ser ut som EU vil gå for naturgass som grønn energi. Noen er imot, men ett stort flertall er for:
Ja det var litt av et sjakktrekk Binnon kom med der. Er for historie bøkene. Er det noen som har sett på hvor mye av QEC sitt området som ligger på urfolkets land?
Engelska
An Alberta company wants to revive shale gas in Quebec
The Alberta gas company Questerre Energy hopes to be able to derogate from the ban on gas exploration in the St. Lawrence Valley by proposing a project to produce natural gas without greenhouse gas emissions in the Bécancour region. The company also has active lobbyists in Quebec to promote its “pilot project” for the exploitation of shale gas.
According to what Questerre announced Thursday, the Calgary company has signed “a joint economic development agreement” with the Abenaki First Nation Council of Wôlinak. The objective of the project is to develop “a net-zero emissions energy center in Quebec”, and more specifically in the Bécancour region.
“The center will demonstrate the emerging circular economy through pilot projects that generate clean energy, including zero-emission gas, and evaluate new carbon recycling technology,” the statement released Thursday said. .
As Le Devoir revealed last October, Questerre notably wishes to assess the potential for capturing and storing CO2 in the region. Carbon capture and storage consists of capturing CO2 emissions from industrial processes or oil and gas exploitation, before burying them in deep geological formations, in order to theoretically store them forever.
“Well Stimulation”
As part of the agreement with the Abenakis of Wôlinak, it is also provided that they could eventually “acquire a direct interest in the exploration permits of Questerre” and “participate directly in future development”.
For the moment, however, it is only a question of “pilot projects”, explained Thursday to Le Devoir the president of the Quebec Energy Association (formerly known as the Quebec Oil and Gas Association), Éric Tétrault. The first would be used to “test carbon capture and storage” in wells already drilled. “With the rapid increase in carbon pricing, this will be a great way for industry, among other things, to get out of it by eliminating carbon,” Tétrault said by email.
Questerre also wants to develop “zero-emission natural gas production,” a project it has been trying to advance for about five years. According to Éric Tétrault, the drilling operations would run on electricity, the water used would come from “portable cisterns” and the company would not use “toxic fluids”.
The company does not mention a “fracturing” process to exploit this shale gas. “Fracting is replaced by well stimulation. On this side, technology has advanced a lot. We have nothing to lose here by testing it. We even invite skeptical partners to take part in the project if they wish,” said Mr. Tétrault. This “stimulation” process, which has already been used in the Gaspé, consists of fracturing rock underground in order to extract shale gas.
Climate solution
“Our Net Zero Technology Center project, which integrates new emerging carbon technologies, is the solution to achieving Quebec’s ambitious climate goals. We look forward to deepening our cooperation with the Abenakis of Wôlinak and with all local stakeholders,” Questerre President and CEO Michael Binnion said in a statement.
Questerre also pointed out that “the future success of the oil and gas industry depends on a balance between the economy, the environment and society.” The company also believes that “the public must participate in the choices that matter to our energy future”.
The Alberta company also has six lobbyists registered in the Quebec register, including Éric Tétrault. Their mandate specifies that they take steps to "propose to the Government of Quebec to take into account the possibility for companies holding licenses to propose new technologies or new practices, including circular economy projects and / or promoting a true energy transition such as CO2 capture and sequestration, CO2 recycling and low-emission products other than fossil fuels”.
Fracturing
Although hydraulic fracturing (which makes it possible to exploit shale gas) is prohibited in the St. Lawrence Valley under the Petroleum Resources Act, Questerre still holds several permits in the south of the province. These cover approximately 3600 km2, they are located on the South Shore of the St. Lawrence and they form a long strip of territory that goes from Drummondville to Quebec.
OVERSATT TIL NORSK:
Skifergassprosjektet i Wôlinak får støtte
Marc Rochette
MARC ROCHETTE
Le Nouvelliste
Abenakis of Wôlinak Council er involvert i et skifergass-pilotprosjekt med selskapet Questerre, og har nettopp fått støtte fra Aboriginal Resource Council of Canada.
Denne organisasjonen representerer mer enn 130 First Nations som har en direkte interesse i energiproduksjon, og minner om intensjonen til Quebec-regjeringen om å forby leting og utnyttelse av hydrokarboner i provinsen.
“First Nations over Canada har rett til selvbestemmelse, og den retten inkluderer muligheten til å generere inntekter fra ressursene innenfor deres territorium,” sa Chief Brady O’Watch, nestleder i rådet. "IRC (Indian Resource Council) og sjef for Carry the Kettle First Nation, Saskatchewan.
“Vi har fulgt og fortsetter med stor interesse å følge Quebec-regjeringens intensjon om å forby all energiproduksjon uten hensyn til aboriginernes rettigheter og eksisterende traktater,” advarer han.
Det foreslåtte energisenteret vil produsere ren energi, inkludert nullutslippsgass, og vil bruke ny karbongjenvinningsteknologi. Utbyggingen vil også vurdere potensialet for karbondioksidbinding samt produksjon av rent hydrogen.
“Nullutslippsenergisenterprosjektet er i tråd med ønsket fra Abenakis i Wôlinak og folket i Quebec om å beskytte miljøet og redusere utslippene. Og det er en viktig inntektskilde som Abenakis sårt trenger for å nå målet sitt om selvforsyning,” legger sjef O’Watch til.
“For First Nations som har hydrokarbonreserver på deres territorium, er det avgjørende at provinsiell og føderal politikk ikke opphever eller forstyrrer urbefolkningens rett til å utvikle og dra nytte av disse eiendelene,” legger IRC-president Stephen Buffalo til.
Ifølge ham utgjør forbudet som ble annonsert av regjeringen i Quebec mot å produsere energi fra ressurser et klart brudd på forfedres og traktatrettigheter.
“Og IRC vil gjøre alt i sin makt for å støtte Abenakis i deres ønske om å utvikle deres økonomi på den måten de anser best for deres nasjon,” sa han.
For sjefen for Abenakis av Wôlinak, Michel Bernard, vil sann forsoning begynne når de første nasjonene kan utvikle sin egen økonomi for å sikre deres velstand og stabilitet, og når de kan delta fullt og helt og på en meningsfull måte i Quebec-økonomien og kanadiske . “Prosjektet vårt med Questerre vil bidra til å nå dette målet,” sier han.
Gunstig meningsmåling
I tillegg har Association de l’énergie du Québec (AEQ) gitt ut resultatene av en undersøkelse som viser at Quebecers overveldende går inn for naturgassprosjekter i samarbeid med aboriginske samfunn.
Disse dataene er en del av en Léger-undersøkelse utført i Quebec i oktober med mer enn 2800 respondenter fra flere regioner. 72 prosent av de spurte svarte ja på spørsmål om Quebec-regjeringen burde tillate First Nations å delta i et naturgass-pilotprosjekt.
«Regjeringen har alltid sagt at den vil tillate utvikling hvis det er sosial aksept. Jeg lurer på hvordan vi kan søke mer aksept når det nesten ikke er noen motstand i Quebec mot den respektfulle, fulle og fullstendige deltakelsen fra de første nasjonene, påpeker president Éric Tetrault.
I tillegg til sosial aksept, minner AEQ om at Quebec-regjeringen er pålagt å respektere prinsippet om selvbestemmelse for urfolk som anerkjent av FNs erklæring om urfolks rettigheter og rammeverket for anerkjennelse og regjeringens implementeringsplan vedtatt. juni sist.
Dette prinsippet sier tydelig at urfolk har rett til naturressurser på sine forfedres land for å sikre deres utvikling og velstand.
AEQ er klar over at denne avtalen mellom Questerre og Abenakis of Wôlinak Council kommer på et tidspunkt da Quebec-regjeringen vurderer å fremme et lovforslag om å forby produksjon av hydrokarboner i Quebec.
Den ber nok en gang regjeringen legge til rette for å gå videre med pilotprosjekter for CO2-fangst og -lagring og nullutslipp av naturgassproduksjon, null drikkevann, null giftige væsker og med annen metode enn frakturering.
Quebec Indigenous groups join Questerre Energy in push for natural gas development
NICOLAS VAN PRAET
PUBLISHED 9 HOURS AGO
A Questerre shale gas exploration well is seen near St. Edouard, Que.
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Questerre Energy Corp. QEC-T -1.54%decrease
has gained additional First Nations support for its push to develop what it calls a “zero-emissions” natural gas hub in Quebec, ahead of a looming ban by the province on any future oil and gas development.
The Indian Resource Council of Canada (IRC), an organization representing more than 130 First Nations that produce energy or have direct interests in the energy industry, issued a statement of support late Wednesday for the proposed project. The hub would be located near Bécancour, Que., on land the Abenaki First Nation of Wolinak considers its traditional territory.
The Abenakis last week announced a preliminary deal with Calgary-based Questerre that would give them a share of the profits from development on the land. The Abenakis would also have an opportunity to acquire a working interest in Questerre’s exploration licences and participate in future development.
“This project has the full support of the Abenakis and offers innovative solutions to reducing emissions while providing an affordable and reliable source of energy to the market,” IRC president Stephen Buffalo said. “The current proposed ban by the Government of Quebec on oil and gas development is a clear violation of Aboriginal and treaty rights and the IRC will do everything it can to support the Abenakis.”
Alberta energy junior Questerre seeks to test Quebec’s ban on oil and gas development
The move by Indigenous groups to back the proposal raises the stakes for Quebec Premier François Legault, whose government is readying new legislation that will put the hydrocarbon development ban into effect. The Premier, who faces an election in October, may be forced to consider whether boosting his environmental credibility is worth roiling First Nations as they try to raise own-source revenue for their communities.
Resource estimates suggest Quebec has enough natural gas to meet its own needs for several decades, most of it concentrated in the province’s portion of the Utica shale formation along the southern flank of the St. Lawrence River, in and around the Bécancour region. Early efforts to access the gas, using a technique that fractured the underlying rock, met with significant public opposition. The majority of the deposits remain untapped.
Questerre holds the licence rights to more than one million gross acres of farmland in the province. The company’s efforts to develop natural gas projects have been repeatedly thwarted by government moratoriums. Rather than exit the province, Questerre has continued trying to convince decision-makers that it can adopt new production methods that mesh with Quebec’s environmental goals.
Questerre is proposing a pilot project that would drill for natural gas with new underground well-stimulation techniques, powered by hydroelectricity and using biodegradable chemicals. It says this would reduce extraction-related emissions to near zero.
The company wants to build two pipelines in the Bécancour area – one to carry carbon dioxide and another to carry natural gas. It would sell the gas to local industrial clients while taking back the carbon dioxide and either recycling it or storing it to avoid releasing it into the atmosphere. It has submitted an application to government authorities to test a carbon-sequestration reservoir, which would be the first piece of the project.
The plan is little more than a “desperate strategy, a Hail Mary,” by a company whose business model is under threat, said Émile Boisseau-Bouvier, a climate policy analyst at Montreal-based environmental group Équiterre.
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“Oil and gas companies are feeling the heat, and the industry is trying really hard to find loopholes to continue making money by any means,” Mr. Boisseau-Bouvier said. That includes “greenwashing their activities with false technological solutions,” such as carbon capture and storage, he said.
Geneviève Tremblay, a spokesperson for Jonatan Julien, Quebec’s Minister of Energy and Natural Resources, said the government welcomes any mutually beneficial agreement between a company and a First Nations community. But she said the government is holding firm on its intention to introduce new legislation that will enact a ban on oil and gas development.
Quebec imports most of its natural gas from the United States and Western Canada.
Eric Tétrault, president of l’Association de l’Énergie du Québec, a trade group whose members include natural gas developers, argued that gas extraction isn’t necessarily harmful to the environment.