Opinion and findings on environment and energies

I thought that I had to open my blog with the typical Albertan resource, i.e. oil sands. Canada owns the biggest reserve of this unconventional oil which has only been officially accounted as part of the world oil reserves in 2004. Indeed, Canada now ranks as the second biggest world proven reserve with 172 billion barrels (bb) of oil, 99% of which is lying on the Albertan ground. This share represents 15.15% of the 1,135 bb proven reserves on Earth. The first country is Saudi Arabia with 264 bb and a share that accounts for 23.25% of the reserves ⁽¹⁾.

The oil sands are an unconventional kind of oil. The two main reserves of oil sands are in Alberta, Canada and in Venezuela. This substance is a mix of bitumen, water, clay and sand. It basically relies on the ground, so unlike traditional oil, this resource is collected by trucks. It is mixed with water, and then boiled so that the bitumen is separated from the rest. In the end, the bitumen is shipped to refineries and the water is partially recycled. The rest of the used water is stocked into tailing ponds for years. Currently, Alberta stocks around 187 billion gallons of waste into tailing ponds ⁽²⁾.

Because oil sands exploitation began gradually since the 1970s, the Albertan production still account for a small percentage of the international supply. However, this share does not represent the flourishing number of projects that are being developed in Alberta. Between 1999 and 2008, the private investments have increased eight-fold. And from 2008 to 2010, the Oil Sands Developer Group (OSDG) forecasts another $ 80 billion of investments in oil sands’ projects. Locally, the OSDG estimates that 1.5 million barrels per day are produced and this production is supposed to reach to 3 million barrels per day by 2015⁽³⁾. In comparison, the international supply of oil is on average 51 million per day, so Albertan oil sands share is around 3% ⁽⁴⁾. In the long run, The Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers expects the reserves to be sufficient to produce oil at a pace of 3 million barrels a day for 150 years ⁽¹⁾. This lead us to a double conclusion, first, oil sands is a local resource that is now vital for Canada’s economy, for instance, it provides 12,000 jobs ⁽⁵⁾. Second, on the world scale, Albertan oil sands represent an extra 15% reserve of oil that we cannot afford to give up in order to face hydrocarbon shortage; moreover, Canada is a safe and reliable supplier.

The biggest issue with oil sands comes from the rythm at which projects are developed. The provincial development does not keep up to the pace. Soon, the local infrastructure such as road will be an issue. This is the same problem as for oil facilities and as for the workforce which begins to be insufficient. Concerning the environmental issues, the “tar sands” (as Greenpeace names them) exploitation generates 20% more CO₂ than the extraction of usual oil. This represents 40 million tonnes of CO₂ per annum, or 0.1% of the world greenhouse gases emissions (GHG) ⁽⁶⁾. Alberta and major energy firms initiated programs to reduce those GHG productions, among which the Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS). For the local issues, oil sands exploitation may cause the destruction of 4.3million hectares of the boreal forest ⁽⁶⁾ and the contamination of water through leaks from the tailing pounds into the Athabasca River. The water resting in the ponds has been proved to be cancer causing, and each year 7,000 birds die in those artificial lakes ⁽⁷⁾.

To conclude, it is unlikely and not desirable that Canada stops its oil sands projects. However, slowing down the pace of the development may be a good idea in order to settle stronger environmental friendly basis in the sector.

(1) “Oil Sands economic impact across Canada”, Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers, April 2008

Available at: http://www.capp.ca/GetDoc.aspx?DocID=141879

(2) “The Tar Sands’ Deadly Ponds”, by Andrew Nikiforuk, April 2009

Available at: http://businessethicsnetwork.org/article.php?id=2659

(3) “Social and Economic Impacts of Oil Sands Development, Fact Sheet”, the Oil Sands Developers Group, October 2009

Available at: http://www.oilsandsdevelopers.ca/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/Socio-Economic-Fact-Sheet-October-2009.pdf

(4) “Monthly oil market report”, Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, December 2009

Available at: http://www.opec.org/home/Monthly%20Oil%20Market%20Reports/2009/pdf/MR122009.pdf

(5) “Economic Impact of the petroleum industry in Canada, Summary report”, Canadian Energy Research Institute, July 2009

Available at: http://www.ceri.ca/documents/CERIIOSummaryReport.pdf

 (6) “Stop the tar sands”, Greenpeace Canada website

Available at: http://www.greenpeace.org/canada/en/campaigns/tarsands

(7)”The Canadian oil boom”, National Geographic website, March 2009

Available at: http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2009/03/canadian-oil-sands/kunzig-text/1