Economics drive tar sands operations. Record highs in oil prices, though still fluctuating, will make tar sand oil ‘economical’ (read: profitable) well into the future. Government subsidies to this environmentally disastrous process remain in place from a time when the federal government was sponsoring research into the possibility of recovering this oil. Stock prices of tar sands developers grow the more conventional oil is scarce.
Don’t tar Utah
The Salt Lake Tribune
Aug 7, 2010
With little advance notice, a plan to extract Utah’s tar sands was presented last week at a hearing of Utah’s Division of Oil, Gas and Mining, which can rule on the plan in a month (“Groups challenge plans for Utah tar sands mine,” Tribune, July 27).
Canada's energy industry
Tarred with the same brush
The Gulf spill has focused American minds on pollution from Canadian oil producers. But cleaning up the tar sands will not be easy
Aug 5th 2010 | ottawa
The Economist
Aecon Group adds Alberta oil sands contractor
Eric Lam, Financial Post
Aug. 9, 2010
TORONTO -- Toronto-based Aecon Group Inc. said Monday it has offered to purchase the assets of Alberta oil sands contracting services business Cow Harbour Construction Ltd., currently under creditor protection, for $180-million.
If approved, Aecon would become one of the largest mining and land reclamation contractors in the oil sands. It is already the largest construction and infrastructure development company in Canada.
Madagascar oil auction seen in Oct this year
JOHANNESBURG, Feb 9 (Reuters) - Madagascar's auction of 50 offshore Indian Ocean oil blocks is likely to proceed in October this year after months of political turmoil delayed the process, a senior official said on Tuesday.
The auction has been postponed due to a military-backed coup on the island last year, but Joeli Lalaharisaina, acting director general of the Office of National Mines and Strategic Industries (OMNIS), said it would happen this year.
Suncor Energy reports oil sands production numbers for July 2010
CALGARY, ALBERTA, Aug 05, 2010 (MARKETWIRE via COMTEX) -- Suncor Energy Inc. reported today that the company's oil sands production during July averaged approximately 322,000 barrels per day (bpd). Year-to-date oil sands production at the end of July averaged approximately 260,000 bpd. Suncor is targeting average oil sands production of 280,000 bpd (+/- 5%) in 2010.
EPA Calls For Further US Government Study Of Oil-Sands Pipeline
* JULY 21, 2010
By Edward Welsch
Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
CALGARY (Dow Jones)--The environmental impact of crude production from Canada's oil sands should be studied more closely before the U.S. approves a new pipeline from its northern neighbor, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said Wednesday.
Oilsands boost CNRL earnings
President calls Calgary firm's results 'stunning'
By Shaun Polczer, Calgary Herald August 6, 2010
Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. on Thursday credited its growing oilsands production for significantly higher second quarter financial and operating results that handily beat analyst expectations.
Anti-oilsands advertisements
Calgary Herald
August 9, 2010 2:06 AM
-Before watching the Rethink Alberta video, 54 per cent of Britons and 49 per cent of Americans said they would "definitely" or "probably" consider visiting Alberta.
-After watching the video, only 24 per cent of Britons and 26 per cent of Americans would "definitely" or "probably" consider visiting Alberta.
Pipeline would ship oil and jobs south
Published On Sun Aug 08 2010
Dave Coles President of the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers union
An unlikely coalition of Calgary oil workers, Nebraska farmers, Michigan mothers, Greenpeace shock troops and a powerful U.S. congressman have a chance to achieve what many thought impossible — bring a Canada-U.S. oil pipeline project to a screeching halt.
The pipeline they are trying to stop is a 9,600-kilometre monster designed to ferry black bitumen from the Canadian tarsands due south to planned refineries on the Gulf of Mexico.
Groups challenge plans for Utah tar sands mine
By Steven Oberbeck
The Salt Lake Tribune
Updated Jul 27, 2010 11:12PM
A small Canadian company, in need of millions for its ambitious plans, also is facing stiff opposition from two Utah environmental groups that are trying to thwart its efforts to build one of the first commercial tar sand mines in the country.
Earth Energy Resources, based in Calgary, Alberta, received approval a year ago from the staff of the Utah Division of Oil, Gas and Mining to begin working a 62-acre deposit on the Uintah County-Grand County line.
