"According to the Alberta Energy and Utilities Board, Alberta's oil sand deposits contain approximately 1.7 trillion barrels of bitumen, of which over 175 billion are recoverable with current technology, and 315 billion barrels are utimately recoverable with technological advances. The Athasbasca Oil Sands Deposit is, by itself, the largest petroleum resource in the world."
I remember in grade school, growing up in Alberta Canada, we were told the same thing. There is more oil in Alberta than Saudia Arabia. So why is all the oil coming from the middle east?
The answer they gave back then (80s) was it was too expensive with the current technology to extract the oil from the sands. Doing so would force gas prices up to about $1.50 a gallon before it was economical to do so. Oil companies can get oil cheaper from the middle east.
And they still can get it cheaper from the middle east. Unless of course you factor in the price of the wars... but that is coming out of the tax payers pocket not the oil companies pocket so guess what, middle east oil is still important.
I remember in grade school, growing up in Alberta Canada, we were told the same thing. There is more oil in Alberta than Saudia Arabia. So why is all the oil coming from the middle east?
The answer they gave back then (80s) was it was too expensive with the current technology to extract the oil from the sands. Doing so would force gas prices up to about $1.50 a gallon before it was economical to do so. Oil companies can get oil cheaper from the middle east.
And they still can get it cheaper from the middle east. Unless of course you factor in the price of the wars... but that is coming out of the tax payers pocket not the oil companies pocket so guess what, middle east oil is still important.