Oil Sands Truth: Shut Down the Tar Sands

Energy

Energy and how it is captured and consumed is barely viable in tar sands production. While the amount of oil in places such as the tar sands in Alberta or the Orinoco Belt in Venezuela may have deposits of similar size to the reserves of countries such as Saudi Arabia or Iraq, the return of new energy after expending energy in production is not even close. In Iraq, the process of using one barrel of oil generates 100 new barrels. In the tar sands, estimates of 3 to 1 and even as low as 1.5 to 1 have been made. Offsetting the net energy loss would require minimally 25-30 tar sands facilities for one Saudi plant operating at the same capacity.

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Big Oil Strike in Brazil has Tongues Wagging, but We Continue Towards Peak Oil

By Pedro Prieto, Tlaxcala. Posted May 7, 2008.

Since the 1980's, the world has discovered less oil than it has consumed every year.

note: This was translated from the Spanish original by Miss Machetera, proprietor of the Machetera blog.

The world press, especially the Western press and specifically the financial press, has jumped all over the headlines of the discovery of a huge oil field in Brazil's continental shelf.

Oil hits record near $127 as Iran mulls output cut

Oil hits record near $127 as Iran mulls output cut
Reuters
May 13 2008

NEW YORK, May 13 (Reuters) - Oil surged to a record peak near $127 on Tuesday after OPEC producer Iran said it was studying a plan to cut output despite signs record-high prices are hurting consumer nations.
U.S. crude jumped $2.00 to $126.23 a barrel by 1:45 p.m. EDT (1745 GMT), after striking a record $126.98 earlier. London Brent crude rose $1.61 to $124.52 a barrel.

Imperial fears year delay to Kearl tar sands project

Imperial fears year delay to Kearl oilsands project
Claudia Cattaneo, Financial Post Published: Thursday, May 08, 2008

CALGARY -- Imperial Oil Ltd. said in Federal Court Thursday its $8-billion Kearl oilsands project faces a delay of a year or more if a key water permit pulled by the federal government isn't quickly re-instated.

"It took nine months to get this piece of paper," lawyer Munaf Mohamed, of Fraser, Milner Casgrain LLP, argued before Justice Douglas Campbell. "What

is sufficient in terms of the sting of the lash?

Industry backlash against BC uranium mining ban

B.C.'s uranium ban is irrational, economically irresponsible

Vancouver Sun

Friday, May 09, 2008

The provincial government has slapped a ban on exploration for uranium, outlawed any development of known deposits and imposed a "no registration reserve" to ensure no future claims include rights to the mineral. It has offered no rationale for these draconian measures.

Citizen Opposition to the Proposed Nukes in Peace River

No mention here about the real reason for locating the nukes in Peace River, which is to supply power for Shell in the nearby Grosmont formation for their electric heaters to extract bitumen from limestone.
-Tarpit Pete

Alberta's Peace River area split over bid to build nuclear power plant

1 day ago

PEACE RIVER, Alta. — Dan and Huguette Ropchan stand on the grainy edge of ice-crusted Lac Cardinal in northwest Alberta and worry that in a decade they'll have to raise their wheat and canola in the shadow of monster nuclear cooling towers.

The Real Need for Nukes in Peace River

After over a year of very low-key manoeuvering through their privately held subsidiary Sure Northern Energy, Shell finally comes clean with their proposal to use electric heaters to extract bitumen from the limestone-based Grosmont formation, which may host more oil than all the other tar sands combined. If successful, this new "in-situ" method will require massive amounts of electricity convenienty located to the south at the proposed nuclear plants in Peace River and possibly Whitecourt. The perversity of using nukes to heat the earth to extract mock oil is utterly astounding!

Dehcho Land Use Plan revisions increase development

Roxanna Thompson
Northern News Services
Published Thursday, May 01, 2008

DEH GAH GOT'IE KOE/FORT PROVIDENCE - A revised Dehcho Land Use Plan could be completed as early as this fall, according to members of the Dehcho Land Use Planning Committee.

The planning committee has been working steadily since last fall to resolve the differences over the plan between the Dehcho First Nations (DFN) and the territorial and federal governments, said Michael Nadli, the chair of the committee.

Native People Warn U.N. of Biofuels Disaster

From the article below: "Experts on agro-economics say biofuels production is
largely responsible for the current food shortages and soaring prices. The crisis,
according to them, is not going to end unless the rich countries change their energy
consumption patterns.

If rich nations stopped biofuels production this year, it would lead to a price
decline in corn by about 20 percent and wheat by about 10 percent within the next
two years, according to the International Food Policy Research Institute, a think
tank in Washington."

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More dead birds giving tar sands a blackeye

More dead birds giving Oilsands a blackeye

May 05, 2008 - 7:25 am
Kevin Usselman & Bryce Kelley

The Alberta oilsands is coming under fire again after a loon was found dead
and two others in distress at the ConocoPhillips tar sands site over the
weekend.

A campaigner with Greenpeace says he received the tip about the loons on
Saturday. It's the second incident involving birds in the oilsands in about
a week.

Last week, 500 ducks were found dead on a tailings pond at the Syncrude
oilsands site. That's because the birds, were found in a pond that has high

International Energy Agency admits to 12.5 million barrel per day oil supply shortage

Update: IEA Warning 12.5 MBD Supply Shortage
News Type: Event — Tue Apr 22, 2008 11:47 AM EDT
world-news, energy, peak-oil, iea, ele, energy-scarcity
Gumwars

I have retrieved the entire document translated to english by Cappella, a member of the Life After the Oil Crash blog forum. Please read it carefully as it portends significant difficulties for all of us.

"The Sirens Shrill"

The International Energy Agency (IEA) gives alarm: The world could run out of oil faster than expected - the danger of a supply shortage is rising