6 Outstanding Companies Investing in Canadian Oil Sands
As the United States and other nations release the largest amount of crude ever from world strategic reserves, one has to stop and analyze the event to judge what might be the best course of action for investors. Another way to phrase this is to ask what the reasons for such an action are and where does this fit into the overall trend for the energy markets. As reported, the release of 60 million barrels of crude was done in conjunction with the International Energy Agency (IAS), which is a group of more than two dozen countries. The release of the crude was said to be done to address the high oil demand and shortfalls of oil production caused by unrest in the Middle East and North Africa, which will undermine the recovery of the global economy. What is interesting is that even though 60 million barrels seems like a great deal, it will only cover the planet’s use for less than a full day.
That being the case, one must assume that a better explanation might be to apply pressure to Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) for its refusal to increase oil production to bring down prices. In June OPEC released a statement stating that demand for the oil that member countries produce will be expected to increase by 500,000 barrels a day. This would make the average about 29.8 million barrels every day for this organization. Iran and Venezuela want to keep production levels stable, thereby keeping prices high to fill their coffers. On the other hand, Saudi Arabia wants to increase production to avoid another oil price crash like the nearly 70% drop that occurred in the second half of 2008.
As both IAS and OPEC jockey for position and the various political systems debate, investors are left debating the best course of action. As the IAS made their decisions, they also release statements, which revealed major concerns about the ability of oil producers to meet growing world demand in the future. The basic fear here is that if our demand for oil in this sluggish world economy is outstripping supply, what will happen when growth returns in full force. The answer here is obvious and we will see crude prices move higher. The question is: What companies will benefit with higher crude prices and have a location that is in a relatively safe investment and political environment? One possible answer is the oil sand of Canada.Oil Sands Mining Courses - News
The Syncrude Project is a Joint Venture undertaking among Canadian Oil Sands Limited, and six other companies. The project's main goal is to produce crude oil and other substances from the mining and processing of the oil sands, located on leases
Imperial Oil, the Canadian division of Exxon, purchased about 200 modules to be used in the construction of a new bitumen mining and refinery plant at its Kearl oil-sands project in northern Alberta. The first 33 modules, each of which is as tall as 30
The C$1.75 billion strategic partnership with French oil major Total SA (TOT - Analyst Report), to jointly develop the Fort Hills and Joslyn oil sands mining projects, will also play a critical role. Improved reliability at its oil sands operations and
"SilverBirch considers the estimated cost of approximately $83000 per flowing barrel for the entire Frontier and Equinox Project to be well within the expected range of costs for oil sands mining projects and consistent with other operators' experience
by Dermot Cole / cole@newsminer.com FAIRBANKS — I'm not sure how this would pencil out, but there's a new plan to build a 1250-mile railroad from Alberta to Alaska to send oil made from oil sands to Valdez, according to a Canadian company called G
Why isn't oil sands mining or mountaintop-removal coal mining ...
Literally millions of acres are being permanently scarred by oil sands mining in Alberta, Canada and mountaintop-removal coal mining in Appalachia (USA).
These massive alterations of the land will never return to their pre-industrial state, as will eventually happen with the oil leaking into the Gulf of Mexico (see Ixtoc spill of 1979 for some parallels). Strip mining operations also create toxic intrusions into local freshwater supplies. Mountaintop-removal literally buries streams. Water-intensive oil sands mining creates waste ponds that aren’t being cleaned up.
A company called Earth Energy Resources is already planning to develop large oil sands operations in Utah, in the vicinity of wilderness areas. Oil development is threatening some of America’s last pristine lands, and will divert water from desert regions that barely have enough. Since Utah is largely Republican (they think pillaging the land is a “God given” right), there has been little State resistance to the project.
It’s noteworthy that Republicans, who’ve shown minimal respect for environmental protection over the years, are suddenly acting like they care about the marine environment in the Gulf. Is the focused outrage on the BP spill mostly about the loss of fishing & tourism jobs vs. (non-game) marine life that’s being killed?
The damage from tar sands or oil sands as you put it isn’t the strip mining. The mined sections are filled back in and replanted so that they are as they once were just a couple of hundred feet lower. The damage is that energy is required to heat the heavy oils enough to extract them and what can’t be teased out through heat is gasified by burning in a low oxygen environment to form a mixture of carbon monoxide and hydrogen gases known as syngas which will self assemble in the right pressures and temperatures and with the right catalyst to form any linear hydrocarbon that we want. Heating the sands to tease out the heavy oils consumes fossil fuels and releases CO2, the gasification process only recovers 51% of the carbon in the syngas, the rest becomes CO2. The environmental damage of the tar sands is in the release of greenhouse gases.
With the Gulf oil leak, the damage is the disruption of specific niches in the food web of the Gulf. Entire species are at risk and we don’t even know which ones since a thorough environmental study had been waived when granting the drilling license. There was some care and effort given to not disrupt the various wildlife beyond repair with the tar sands though admittedly some wild life does suffer but with the oil leak, we could loose critical species that could have a cascading effect on the entire region and we have no idea as to how bad it could be.
Oil Sands Mining Courses - Bookshelf
Tar Sands, Dirty Oil and the Future of a Continent
In this new edition of his provocative bestseller, Andrew Nikiforuk assesses recent developments, refutes industry's claim that steam plants are a "greener" way ...Popular Mechanics
Virtually any site or location within a short distance of the plant has been found suitable for oil sands mining operations, and it is here that the ...Engineering and mining journal
JH Harden ; The Geologic Age of the Oil Sands, by H. Martyn Chance, Philadelphia ; Petroleum and Artesian Wells, by C. Henry Roney, ...Bitumens, asphalts, and tar sands
Furthermore, the viability of underground mining of oil sands is still unproved in the field [6]. Hence, recovery of these huge reserves is potentially ...Los Angeles mining review
A sand 100 feet thick fully saturated with oil will, of course, ... of the fifteenth call of the official meet of the Mining Congress to be held in the city ...Helpful Information Directory
Oil Sands Mining and Exploration Events | Oil Sands EventsMine
Search for oil sands events, conferences, exhibitions, geology courses and conferences worldwide on EventsMine.
Oil Sands Mining and Processing – Gas & Oil Expo and Conference
This course will examine the methods used for surface mining recovery of oil sands and oil shales, the transportation methods to the processing ...
Course Detail - Introduction to Oil Sands Mining
Introduction to Oil Sands Mining. This course provides an introduction to mining of Alberta oil sands projects using four mining projects as examples: ...
COURSES IN MINING METHODS - MINE PLANNING - by EduMine
Courses for continuing education and technical reference for mining and geoscience professionals in mining method, mine planning, mine method, blasting, ...
Mining for oil | The Salt Lake Tribune
The strip mining of tar sands deposits for oil in Utah's Book Cliffs will disturb the earth, degrade the environment and disrupt wildlife. It's an