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I've been reading up a bit about this to see if they will save the world.
Sadly they won't.
Apart from creating an environmental disaster, they really won't help much at all.
Every day we use 87 million barrels of oil. Next year it will be 90, the year after 93. So what can we expect from Alberta? In the year 2025 when it is at full production - around 3 million barrels per day. Our needs in 2025 will be 120 million barrels of oil per day. Sadly we will be lucky to get 40 or 50 by that time.
To produce one barrel of oil they must mine, transport and process two tonnes of sand. It's just a logistical impossibility to produce more than that. So forget the oil sands - we are still heading for the stone age. Sorry folks, I'll let you know if I find a real answer.
http://www.moneyweek.com/file/21765/are-canadian-tar-sands-the-answer-to-our-oil-needs.html
Sadly they won't.
Apart from creating an environmental disaster, they really won't help much at all.
Every day we use 87 million barrels of oil. Next year it will be 90, the year after 93. So what can we expect from Alberta? In the year 2025 when it is at full production - around 3 million barrels per day. Our needs in 2025 will be 120 million barrels of oil per day. Sadly we will be lucky to get 40 or 50 by that time.
To produce one barrel of oil they must mine, transport and process two tonnes of sand. It's just a logistical impossibility to produce more than that. So forget the oil sands - we are still heading for the stone age. Sorry folks, I'll let you know if I find a real answer.
http://www.moneyweek.com/file/21765/are-canadian-tar-sands-the-answer-to-our-oil-needs.html