Stupid Idea number two. Good article by Dan Woynillowicz from World Watch on the growing importance of Canada’s tar sands, especially to the US. If you thought coal to oil (see blog below) was stupid, tar sands is much worse.
The United States has its hopes pinned on Canada’s “tar sands” for North American security in […]

Interesting story from the Globe and Mail about new techniques being used to exploit Alberta’s oil sands which offer a “potential sea change in how Canadian companies wring energy from the ground.”
Most companies have traditionally pumped steam into their reservoirs to move the putty-like oil deposits, a process called steam-assisted gravity drainage, but this consumes […]

The rush to invest in Canada’s oil sands is on (see yesterday’s post on Shell). Marathon Oil, the largest oil refiner in the U.S. Midwest, is set to become the latest international energy player to grab a stake in Alberta’s oil sands, after it announced a deal yesterday to buy Calgary-based Western Oil Sands Inc. […]

Oil giant Shell is seeking to build a new $25 billion plant to process bitumen from Alberta’s oil sands.
The “Scotford Upgrader 2 Project”, to be built near Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta, will be built in four phases with a capacity of 100,000 barrels a day each. Construction may start as early as 2009.

All the world’s extra oil supply is likely to come from expensive and environmentally damaging unconventional sources within 15 years, according to a detailed study by oil consultants, Wood Mackenzie.
They have calculated that the world holds 3,600bn barrels of unconventional oil and gas reserves in Canadian oil sands and Venezuela’s Orinoco tar belt that needs […]