Bryan Crosby Dot Ca » frustration

Peace Country Kool-Aid…now with 20% more gas

Bryan — Sun, 19 Jun 2011 19:03:32 +0000

As of two weeks in I can see that reconciling my issues with the oil and gas industry is proving to be more frustrating than I originally predicted.

A major gas player dragged out the BC Public service last week for a fam-tour of their South Peace operations. Members of the Oil and Gas Commission , Ministry of Transportation/Infrastructure , Ministry of Forests (now known by their new ridiculous name Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations ) and the Agricultural Land Commission were all present for the “we are totally awesome” tour. Interestingly, there was not a single Ministry of Environment representative present. It is not clear if they were conveniently left off the list or choose not to go. We were shuffled from signature project to signature project. From a peri-urban well site, to a pipeline project, to a frac site, to an pipeline construction line and finally to new compressor station.

This wasn’t the first time I’ve been on industry tours and there is certainly nothing wrong with pushing your end of the story, especially to the folks signing your permits. While I can’t speak for efforts in other producing areas of Canada, this particular company engages in considerable amounts of consultation with landowners and other relevant stakeholders and has really stepped up their game in terms of noise, air and water concerns. That they were proud of this was an understatement. Fair enough, and it’s the kind of stuff that makes Ezra Levant giggle, and maybe there is an element of truth to the idea that oil and gas production in Canada is superior when viewed relatively to how it is done in the rest of the world. Still, this was a process that I would have expected to be a standard, involuntary muscle movement of gas production in BC. It’s something one just does, as simply as it is expected that one wait in line at a post office. Apparently this kind of stuff is cutting-edge to this massive company. I rolled my eyes. At the end of the day the only reason your company is rolling out this process is because the government is forcing you to be good neighbors.

Admittedly, some of the technical aspects of gas is more encouraging. The horizontal drill technology used in conjunction with shale fraccing is quite wild. Drilling down several thousand feet then turning sideways into a shale deposit. Significantly reducing the number of well-pads and pipelining required to move gas makes this the obvious Chuck Norris of drilling. Still, no words about the secret sauce used to frac the shale, although this company was not shy about the insane amount of energy required to force the cement and fraccing solution down into the shale. As such, energy efficiencies is also an area in which industry seems to be taking a genuine interest on improving. We visited a brand new, electrically powered, zero emission gas compressor station which is a big improvement over the diesel/natural gas powered stations commonly used. Unfortunately this sort of tech is only appropriate when near the established electrical grid. If more electric compressor stations come online, I can certainly see where a project such as Site-C would be an absolute necessity.

A few hours after the tour had finished it dawned what had bothered me most about the whole experience. It wasn’t the footprint of the industry, it wasn’t the ethics of the whole concept of oil and gas, it wasn’t even the money they seemed to throw around like it grew on trees. It was the nature of the company. It was the monolithic personalities of the representatives. These people are true-believers . 100% confidence and certainty that what they are doing is right, just and without serious problems. Nothing is wrong. Everything is great. They are the good guys with an easy solution for all and if you don’t agree that means you just don’t understand…and we can fix that. We are the only reason our economy isn’t in the shitter. Don’t believe us? We are totally awesome. Have some Kool-Aid .

I don’t believe I’ve ever seen such conviction in a company or in employees before. Their industry vs. the world. I find it rather scary.

So much going on here in this region…

Technorati Tags: drilling, fraccing, frustration, gas, kool-aid, oil, peace country, peace river

Urban Cross-Country Skiing

Vladivostok 2008

Bryan — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 08:31:23 +0000

I’m keeping my posts short because I’d like to keep my internet bar time to a minimum because in addition to hourly rates, users are also charge a bandwith premium. Traveling the eastern seaboard of Russia (namely Vladivostok) is no walk in the traveling park. It’s not impossible, or even difficult for that matter…just frustrating. Despite being the terminus of the apparently popular Trans-Siberian railway there is essentially zero traveler facilities avaliable in city. No hostels. No information. No written English (usually associated and found in hostel environments). And not much help.

I’ve been writing items here and there on my rapidly deteriorating laptop and post them when I find a decent and free wire-less hotspot. Maybe in Irkutsk which apparently offers more in the way of traveler services. I’m not a whining “ohhh…there’s no English!!!” person…I hope I’m not coming off like that. However, when one is paying high prices for accomodations and food in a city which appears to have alot to offer – it is frustrating to know that you are probably not getting the most of out of your time/money spent because you just are not made aware of what is avaliable and what is out there. There just isn’t any information and few if anyone seems willing or avaliable to provide any.

Shame for such a beautiful city.

Technorati Tags: frustration, irkutsk, russia, trans-siberian railway, traveling, vladivostok

Last week in Nanjing

Bryan — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 04:00:05 +0000

Life in the Big Red without a passport is like life without arms or legs – you are consistently denied service, forced into a helpless infant like position in which you must rely upon many others for otherwise simple and menial tasks.

For the record…yes I do have numerous copies of my passport (which is on a 15 day vacation at the Russian consulate)…and for the record they are not accepted anywhere and only accepted where there is some sort of relationship at work.

Situation #1 – The Bund, Shanghai. After I had left my passport at the Russian consulate I was stopped by a policeman several blocks away who demanded to see my passport and visa. Stops are apparently becoming increasingly common as the Police ramp up security with the Olympics just weeks away. My photo-copies were accepted, but not without a hefty lecture.

Situation #2 – Relocation Service. The original passport is required for customs purposes. This was waived and copies were accepted only because the particular company I went through has good relations with the Shanghai customs ministry. The couldn’t do the same magic with Nanjing customs, resulting in a slight delay on service as clearance would have to go through Shanghai instead.

Situation #3 – China Mobile. My mobile and SIM card were stolen in Shanghai. I purchased a second hand Nokia last week and went to the nearest China Mobile office to re-activate my account and get a new SIM card. Nope…gotta have the original passport – even thougheventhough they just photocopy it anyway and staple it to the contract. I was only able to extract service by creating a ‘agitated’ scene which made everyone within ear-shot rather uncomfortable. I hate doing that (see my Mongolia posts ) but my threshold is breached when I feel helpless.

Situation #4 – China Construction Bank. Over the past week I’ve been engaged in a very, very angry battle with the Elong Travel Agency over a booked air ticket to Japan. That utter nastiness is worthy of another post however to pay for this ticket I would have to wire money to their Shanghai account via a Construction Bank branch in Nanjing. The Bank won’t wire money without a passport…and yup…you guessed it….only the original is accepted. Unfortunately, they wouldn’t budge on this – even after my very angry response. Thus I had to drag a local friend out on their lunch hour to help me perform what should have been a very, very, very, very simple action.

Situation #5 – Bank of China. I want to empty out my account and then exchange it for USD. Nope, can’t do that without a passport…original only. But…you can take out XX amount without a passport. Bizarre. I can take out 100% with a passport – but I’m only allowed to take out 30% without. “So that means I have to come back tomorrow and the next day?” I asked. “Yes, you can do that”.

So I’ve been pulling out money for two days, and should have it all pulled out by Saturday. This means that I have to carry cash to the black market money changers then back to my house – and then to Western Union…but they won’t let me wire money without….yeah…

I had to go to Xinjiekou to pick something up so I didn’t bother to drop off the cash at home and went straight to the metro instead. The cops have begun checking bags at the Metro entrance and of course they tear mine open and find my cash – upon which they ask for my ID – and I get another big lecture about how I shouldn’t carry around this kind of cash and how I should have my real passport with me at all times…blah, blah, blah….

I know they are doing their job, however I seriously feel that many think us simple foreign folk are truly idiots.

How I wanted to respond:

“Well, you know I wouldn’t be doing this if you government didn’t employ such an archaic money exchange system which essentially (without lengthy and numerous paper work) prohibits a foreigner from exchanging RMB to any major international currency. Thus forcing me to carry several cash denominations from the bank – to the black market – then to my home – then to the Western Union.

Furthermore, your government doesn’t (nor do you apparently) seem to understand the importance and sheer value of a passport. A passport is NOT a simple ID card and nor should it be treated as such. It is NOT something you just carry around with you like a drivers license. It should be kept in a locked safe and taken out for traveling and visa purposes only. You think losing your national ID in China sucks? Try losing your passport….

I find it baffling that even though there are millions of foreigners living in China – the government still doesn’t seem fit to issue some-sort of special ID for any of use – forcing us all to place our passports at serious risk.”

How I should have responded:

“One of my hobbies is carrying around X amounts of cash in my pack. Sometimes I even like to leave the bag open. I like to see how long I can wander around Xinjiekou before I get robbed. ”

How I did respond:

“Yes sir, thank you – I’m going straight home”.

After almost four years in country, I was hoping for my last week to be a little more memorable. Now I just want to leave all of this nonsense behind.

*A positive was the relocation company. They showed up at my apartment yesterday. Stellar professionalism. I am paying them a lot but I felt like they would bend over backwards for me. I was definetly the customer…not like Elong…where their insane payment system makes me feel like I’m doing them a service.

Technorati Tags: changing money, china, china construction bank, china mobile. bank of china, frustration, nanjing, passport, police, visa