Canada's Oil Sands; Warts and All

Canada's oil sands constitute one of the largest concentrations of hydrocarbons in the world with nearly two trillion barrels of bitumen in place.  Current production is about 1.5 million b/d, half from open pit mines, half from wells relying on steam injection to stimulate production.  Unconventional oil derived from bitumen, extra heavy oil, shale, coal and converted natural gas, is projected to grow as a share of world oil supply. While all are underpinned by immense resources, unconventional hydrocarbons are unlikely to exceed 10% of global supply before 2035. Biofuels, if included, would increase the share of unconventional oil to about 13%.

Extracting, upgrading or converting these forms of oil into useful products economically and in environmentally and socially acceptable ways faces major challenges.  Their development amounts to either reversing or accelerating geological processes, which requires prodigious inputs of energy, materials, labour, technologies or other resources, especially water.  Even as oil prices rise, the cost of production rises because of competing demands for, and therefore higher costs of, these essential inputs, some of which are themselves energy-intensive.  This conceptual framework for discussing their potential contribution to the future energy mix and their political economy is illustrated in the case of the Athabasca oil sands of Alberta.  There are many environmental and social challenges in the development of the oil sands; these are being addressed, albeit slowly. The presentation will discuss the resource, its geology, the technologies and the issues and expectations for development of this resource.

Speaker: Bob Skinner, Advisor to Statoil

NVIDIA Auditorium