Tag Archives: oil sands

Canada and the United States are the world's largest trading partners. The U.S. accounts for about three-quarters of Canada's exports. Because of geography and the North American Free Trade Agreement, there are a number of products that the countries export to each other while at the same time importing from the other. [Take a look at the list. You might be very surprised.] Words: 712

The carbon footprint left by Canada's oil sands has been a target of criticism for years with many environmentalists suggesting that the extraction and processing of bitumen from Alberta's northern oil sands is "two to three times worse" for the environment than any other supply of oil on the planet. Is that legitimate criticism? Words: 692

There have been reports of Westerners eating at a decent restaurant, a hotel room, and hiring a prostitute all for under $5US. In other words, the Venezuelan economy has utterly ceased to function, except through black market transactions involving dollars.

Below is an infographic presenting a crash course in the need for, problems with, and benefits of, building the Keystone XL pipeline from Alberta through the American midwest to the refineries in Texas.

The Canadian oil sands are the world’s single largest petroleum resource at 1.7 trillion barrels. With conventional oil supply decreasing, heavy oil projects such as the oil sands become more attractive economically to meet the needs of growing demand. While environmental concerns about the oil sands remain, the options for plentiful, cost efficient, and clean oil sources are limited.

The following charts come straight from the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers in an attempt to put the benefits and impact of Alberta, Canada's oil sands into proper perspective from their point of view. Take a look and I think you will be favourably impressed. Words: 540

Canada is the largest supplier of oil to the U.S. When the U.S. imports oil from Canada, the spin-off economic benefits are substantial. The interactive map of the U.S. below will let you calculate the economic impact generated in each U.S. state from new oil sands projects in Alberta, Canada. Words: 592

The oil sands in northern Alberta are crucially important to the Canadian economy. People from all over the country are traveling there to find work. The news is filled with controversy over proposed pipelines (the Keystone XL and the Northern Gateway) to carry the oil to export markets. Here are 10 things everyone should know about the oil sands. Words: 878

It wasn't supposed to be this way. By now, Peak Oil was supposed to be a fact of daily life. People were supposed to be lined up at gas stations, struggling to buy US$10-a-gallon gas. Solar and wind companies were supposed to occupy prominent places on the Big Board instead of going out of business right and left. People were supposed to have diminished expectations – resigned to shivering in the dark. Free markets, a flawed system of commerce, were to be exposed as a misleading theoretical construct, incapable of providing for people's needs...The world was running out of resources...Now, suddenly, there is a different tale to tell and the New York Times is up to the task. Up and down the Americas, we learn, there is an Oil Boom. Suddenly, we have gone from enforced austerity to an unheralded plenty. Middle East, watch out! [But all is not as it seems. Let me explain.] Words: 1440

In a recent article called There Will Be Oil in the WSJ, Daniel Yergin once again attempts to debunk the concept of peak oil and sees global production capacity growing to 110 mmbpd by 2030, followed by slow decline. In this short report I take a quick look at his key arguments in an effort to bring further convergence between the peak oil and business-as-usual camps. [Unfortunately, I failed to do so concluding that Peak Oil is still very much with us. Let me explain.] Words: 2032