The petroleum sector in Canada has developed into a vibrant industry which has resulted in export driven economic wealth and a top five global energy producer. In 2007, Canada’s energy export revenue totaled $90 billion and accounted for about 20% of the value of all exports. A study undertaken at the University of Calgary suggests that our economy without the impact of oil and gas would barely be recognizable, less than half its current size.

Canadian energy driven economic growth has been heavily influenced by investments in oil sands (tar sands) development, with China, the world’s second largest oil consumer, the latest arrival. Oil sands are much less expensive to locate than conventional oil, but costly to extract. The dramatic rise in oil prices in recent years, has led to the growth of oil sand activities. With the growth in activity, comes an increased environmental interest.

Extraction of oil from Canadian oil sands has been bombarded by endless negative publicity, the latest, a highly publicized report from Greenpeace; “Dirty Oil: How the tar sands are fueling the global climate crisis”, September 2009. The report highlighted the possibility of current Alberta’s greenhouse emissions from the extraction of oil from oil sands exceeding greenhouse gas emissions of European countries like Estonia and Lithuania and projected Alberta’s emissions by 2020 exceeding the current emissions of Austria, Portugal, Ireland, Denmark and Belgium. Ironically, the Government of Alberta’s Provincial Energy Strategy put Alberta’s oil sands at just 4% (four per cent) of Canada’s greenhouse gas emissions and less than one tenth of one per cent of all global greenhouse gases.

The Greenpeace report also stressed that Canada does not report life-cycle emissions from oil sands in a transparent way as data are incomplete and inaccessible. In July 2009, a report from the study of the range of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from Life-Cycle Analysis of North American and Imported Crude Oils by two U.S. based consulting companies, Jacobs Consultancy and TIAX LLC, indicated that a model has been developed that can now be used to provide an objective and consistent basis for examining new scenarios and lead to best practices. Previous studies used a simplified model representation for calculating direct emissions from different crude oil sources, the report added. “It can be difficult to test past assumptions, but the facts in this case provide an additional level of confidence”, Dr. Eddy Isaacs, Executive Director of Alberta Energy Research Institute, sponsor of the study. “One of the key considerations is that emissions from the oil sands will continue to decline as new technologies continue to be field tested and commercialized,” he continued. “We are pleased to further this kind of research as technology and innovation holds the key to reducing greenhouse gas emissions”, he concluded.

Greenpeace report also added that oil sands have a higher carbon footprint than any other commercial oil product on the planet, burning extreme volumes of natural gas to create steam to melt oil out of the ground. The U.S. based consulting companies Jacobs Consultancy and TIAX LLC, found that direct greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from oil sands are generally about 10% (10 per cent) higher than direct emissions from other crudes in the U.S., but oil sands crudes would be similar to conventional crudes in terms of GHG emissions if cogeneration is taken into consideration. The study maintains that GHG emissions for conventional crudes will continue to increase due to global shift to heavier and more difficult-to-produce conventional crudes and that GHG emission for oil sands crudes will further decrease through technological advances.

Because the world will continue to need fossil fuels, we will need to find cleaner ways to produce and consume fossil fuels, as such; a better informed debate on our energy industry and its future, both outside and within our boundaries stands to benefit us all. Misunderstandings risk actions with potential to harm our country’s economic advantage and dramatically impact our quality of life. Now is the time to get past misconceptions and prejudices and to ask out right questions like; “what do I think is the future of the oil sands, has it come to stay or should it disappear under the weight of environmental compromise?”

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Tags: oil sands, petroleum, pollution

This entry was posted on Monday, September 28th, 2009 at 11:57 pm and is filed under Environment. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.