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.
Total expands oil sand holdings
July 12, 2010
CALGARY, Alberta, July 12 (UPI) -- French energy company Total is looking to expand its holdings in oil sands through a $1 billion deal to tap into Alberta, Canada, recent transactions show.
Total is expanding its portfolio in Alberta's tar sands through a $1 billion bid for UTS Energy of Calgary, the Financial Times reports.
Alberta assets held by UTS Energy are estimated at more than 3 billion barrels of oil, the report adds.
Ignatieff — in Alberta — talks down proposed oilsands pipeline
By Renata D’Aliesio, Canwest News Service
July 11, 2010
CALGARY — Federal Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff chastised the Harper government Saturday for waiting too long to build a relationship with China — but he remained steadfast against the prospect of tankers shipping oilsands fuel to Asia from the northern B.C. coast.
Ignatieff, in Calgary for a Liberal Stampede breakfast fundraiser, renewed his call for a ban on oil tankers in northern British Columbia.
This project-- Devon Jackfish-- had only just announced their approval to double in size. They also just got a few million dollars as "cutting edge leaders" in C02 "capture" technology. They are supposed to be among the best of the tar sands companies in terms of "performance" and "doing the right thing".
Canadian Oil Sands Will Become Top US Crude Source
Published: Monday, 28 Jun 2010
By: Justin Solomon
CNBC Producer
As the future of offshore drilling remains in jeopardy, more investors and energy companies are focusing their attention on the US's neighbor to the north, Canada.
Canada has proven oil reserves of more than 170 billion barrels—second only to those in Saudi Arabia. Much of that crude lies beneath the tundra of Alberta in a thick oil, sand and water mixture called bitumen, more commonly called oil sand.
Devon Energy reports Alberta Oil Sands well leak
By Edward Welsch
CALGARY (MarketWatch) -- A blowout at one of Devon Energy Inc.'s oil sands wells in northeastern Alberta over the weekend sprayed an oil mist into the air for nearly 36 hours, the company and regulators said Monday.
Devon employees discovered a leak in one of the producer wells at the company's 35,000 barrel-a-day Jackfish facility mid-day Saturday and managed to seal the leak by midnight Sunday, a Devon spokeswoman said.
French oil company plans to exploit tar sands in Congo
afrol News, 29 October - French oil company Total has announced its plans to exploit tar sands and other renewable energies in central African country of Congo.
Company's Sustainable Development and Environment Manager, Jean Michel Gires told 6th Global Forum on Sustainable Development in Brazzaville that Total has interest in both oil and gas production but said it is extending its production to tar sands.
Total to Buy UTS to Expand in Canadian Oil Sands
July 07, 2010
By Kari Lundgren and Stephen Cunningham
July 7 (Bloomberg) -- Total SA, Europe’s second-biggest oil producer, will buy UTS Energy Corp. for C$1.5 billion ($1.4 billion) in cash and shares in a new company to boost its output from Canadian oil sands.
Rally at Canadian Embassy, White House Opposes Tar Sand Pipeline
July 10, 2010
Kansas City Info Zine
By Jessica Kokesh - Environmentalists are protesting plans for a second pipeline that would send tar sands from Canada to Texas to be refined into oil.
Washington, D.C. - infoZine - Scripps Howard Foundation Wire - Environmentalists urged government officials to block construction of the proposed Keystone XL pipeline during a protest Thursday.
Michigan protests tar sands oil
Published: July 9, 2010
DETROIT, July 9 (UPI) -- A pipeline carrying oil from tar sands in Canada to markets in the United States is an environmentally risky project, protesters in Michigan said.
Commercial deliveries of crude oil to the U.S. Midwest from the Keystone pipeline from Canada started during the last week of June.
TransCanada, the operator of the pipeline, said a U.S. leg of the pipeline includes more than 1,000 miles of new pipe to northern and Midwest states.
Canadian Oil Sands Unfairly Tainted By BP Fiasco
June 21, 2010
Gordon Pape is editor and publisher of The Canada Report.
The town of Bellingham, Washington (population 75,000) made news recently when the local council passed two resolutions effectively banning the use of fuel derived from the Canadian oil sands (or "tar sands" as environmentalists prefer to call it).
