Will Canadian Oil Sands Save Us?

Max Dunn — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 20:04:00 -0800

There is a lot of oil in Canadian oil sands. So it is easy to believe that even when OPEC’s production starts to fall, Canadian oil sands can make up the difference. However, the problem is not the amount of oil – the problem is separating the oil from the sand which is a slow and resource intensive process.

According to the Master’s thesis of Bengt Söderbergh [1], natural gas availability is likely to limit oil sands production in the long term to about 3.6 million barrels per day (mbd).

David Hughes, a geologist with Natural Resources Canada, believes that the peak will never exceed 2.5 mbd due to natural gas, water, diluent and infrastructure constraints. [2]

For comparison, the U.S. uses 22 mbd and worldwide demand is 86 mbd. So it is unlikely the Canadian oil sands will be able to ever provide a significant amount of the world’s oil.

"Will Canadian Oil Sands Save Us?" by JJ

Fri, 07 Mar 2008 16:52:02 -0800

No matter how tedious the process is, oil is oil is oil. And oil is vital for all of us so there. Canada just might save us all.

Eschew Obfuscation: Will Canadian Oil Sands Save Us?

Will Canadian Oil Sands Save Us?

"Will Canadian Oil Sands Save Us?" by JJ