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Liquified natural gas (LNG) buyer, Korea Gas Corp, is exerting pressure on suppliers in Qatar and Oman in two recent contracts. Korea Gas was able to remove the floor-price provision from the contracts and get equity interest in the projects. Qatar and Oman are competing to develop their LNG projects to maximize their gas reserves. Korea Gas is in a limited pool of aggressive LNG buyers that includes Japan.

Diana McQueen, parliamentary assistant to Alberta's Energy Minister stated December 28, 2010 that the provincial government would oppose the European Union's (EU's) efforts to ban imports of Alberta crude oil under its new low carbon fuel standard. McQueen asserted that greenhouse gas emissions in Alberta had reduced 33% per barrel with the use of newer technologies.

Canadian province Saskatchewan announced a massive auction of hydrocarbon-bearing Crown lands worth C$56.6 million, demonstrating its position as an emerging oil and gas producer. Much of Saskatchewan's oil reserves are to be found in the Bakken formation, which has estimated proven reserves of 1.2 billion barrels.

Energy Minister Ron Liepert stated December 22, 2010 that the government of Alberta is likely to sign a final agreement by late January 2011 with NorthWest Upgrading (NWU) and Canadian Natural Resources Limited (CNRL) for a 150,000 barrels per day (b/d) bitumen upgrader to be built in the province. The upgrader facility at Redwater, central Alberta, will be built in three phases of 50,000 b/d each and will use gasification technology to convert bitumen to hydrogen and ultra low sulfur diesel.