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.
PIPELINE
Potential piping project opens debate
Jennifer Johnson
Orange County Editor
A proposed pipeline funneling what skeptics call "dirty oil" into Southeast Texas from the tar sand mines of Canada has drawn criticism from some Beaumont/Port Arthur residents, the local branch of the Sierra Club and the Texas office of Public Citizen, but officials working with the unconventional crude say the majority of what is being said is hyperbole at best.
ENGOs Do Not Speak for CSTC
May 20, 2010 07:01 ET
Attention: Assignment Editor, Business/Financial Editor, Environment Editor, News Editor, Government/Political Affairs Editor
Environmentalists join ranchers in opposing Keystone XL oil pipeline
Andrea J. Cook Journal staff | May 13, 2010
U.S. Department of State
Environmentalists did most of the talking at a public hearing on the Keystone XL Pipeline in Faith Thursday.
Muddy roads and calving season may have kept area landowners from attending, but a couple landowners stood to comment on the Draft Environmental Impact Statement for Keystone XL, while others preferred to sit and watch.
New report slams oil sands
BP process in Whiting called 'destructive'
May 20, 2010
BY GITTE LAASBY,
When BP Whiting starts processing more Canadian oil sands, residents near the refinery will experience more pollution and health effects from it, according to a new report by a coalition of environmental groups.
Tar sands oil extraction spreading rapidly, report warns
Friends of the Earth reports says extraction threatens environment as well as vulnerable communities
* Terry Macalister
* The Guardian, Monday 17 May 2010
The successful development of Canada's tar sands has triggered a rush by Shell and other oil companies to set up similar operations in Russia, Congo and even Madagascar, a new report reveals.
The Most Destructive Development on Earth: Coming to Trinidad and Tobago?
By Macdonald Stainsby
ZNet
Sunday, May 16, 2010
Alberta group makes case for oil sands
A delegation of business leaders is attempting to dispel falsehoods and
make the case for the oil sands to politicians in Ottawa
Nathan VanderKlippe
Globe and Mail
May. 13, 2010
A group of high-powered Alberta business leaders is in Ottawa this week on
what they are calling a “a trade mission to the capital of our own
country.”
Their goal: promote the oil sands as what John Ferguson, chairman of
Suncor Energy Inc., calls a “great Canadian treasure.” Alberta’s bitumen
The end of offshore oil drilling? Not a chance
Energy companies are faced with the reality that new sources of oil are
just about limited to ever-deeper water
Eric Reguly
Globe and Mail
May. 13, 2010
For three weeks, about 5,000 barrels of oil a day have gushed out of BP’s
Macondo well in the Gulf of Mexico. Gobs of black oil, and the weirdly
coloured slick – fuchsia in parts, as if Martha Stewart were hired for
artistic control – move ever closer to the Louisiana shore and the fecund
wetlands behind it. The ruptured pipes could spew oil for another two or
It's Worse Than You Think: Plotting Global Hydrocarbon Collapse
By Matthew Wild
11 May, 2010
Peak Generation
More than 90 per cent of the world’s energy comes from non-renewable sources – and its decline can be projected on a Hubbert bell curve.
North, South American countries to study heavy oil
Fri Apr 16, 2010
CALGARY, Alberta, April 16 (Reuters) - Energy ministers from North and South American countries with large heavy oil reserves have established a working group to develop better extraction and environmental technology, Canada's natural resources minister said on Friday.
