Canada's Oil Sands With an estimated initial volume in-place of approximately 1.7 trillion barrels (270 billion cubic metres) of crude bitumen, Canada's oil sands are one of the world's largest hydrocarbon deposits. When the Oil and Gas Journal released its estimates of global proved petroleum reserves at year-end 2002, it increased Canada's proved oil reserves to 180 billion barrels (29 billion cubic metres), compared to 4.9 billion barrels (780 million cubic metres) the previous year. This almost forty-fold increase catapulted Canada into second position for total oil reserves behind only Saudi Arabia, and cut the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries' (OPEC's) share of world oil reserves by more than 10 percent. The oil sands are located in three distinct areas in Northern Alberta: the largest Oil Sands Area is Athabasca, the second largest is Cold Lake, and the smallest is Peace River. There are 15 Oil Sands Deposits within the three Oil Sands Areas. The three Oils Sands Areas and the major Oil Sands Deposits within each OSA are shown in the following figure. Source: Alberta Energy and Utilities Board The oil sands industry produced 1,255 thousand barrels per day (kb/d) of crude bitumen in 2006, 761 kb/d from surface mining and 494 kb/d from in situ projects. A large portion of Alberta's bitumen production is upgraded to synthetic crude oil. After upgrading, production of synthetic crude oil and non-upgraded crude bitumen totalled 1,126 kb/d in 2006 (658 kb/d of synthetic crude oil and 468 kb/d of non-upgraded crude bitumen). Strategy West expects production of synthetic crude oil and non-upgraded crude bitumen to reach 3.8 million barrels per day by 2020. Strategy West Oil Sands Industry Documents Strategy West has prepared and keeps current several documents including: a description of these vast resources and the recovery and upgrading technologies employed by the industry; a comprehensive listing of oil sands industry projects; and its outlook for the industry to 2020. These documents may be downloaded by clicking on the following links. Canada's Oil Sands; Strategy West Inc.; March 2007 (PDF 0.2MB) Oil Sands Projects; Strategy West Inc.; April 2008 (PDF 0.1MB) Oil Sands Industry Outlook; Strategy West Inc.; March 2007 (PDF 0.1MB) Other Oil Sands Industry Reports Several organizations publish reports on oil sands resources and reserves, industry outlooks and industry issues. Key reports are included here for your convenience and are available for download by clicking on the following links. Please refer to the referenced organizations' websites for more information. Oil Sands Technology Roadmap, Unlocking the Potential; Alberta Chamber of Resources; January 2004 (PDF 1.6MB) Alberta's Energy Reserves 2006 and Supply/Demand Outlook 2007-2016; Alberta Energy and Utilities Board; June 2007 (PDF 14.4MB) Crude Oil Forecast, Markets and Pipeline Expansions; Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers; June 2007 (PDF 1.9MB) Canada's Oil Sands, Opportunities and Challenges to 2015: An Update; National Energy Board; June 2006 (PDF 1.6MB) Oil Sands Fever, The Environmental Implications of Canada's Oil Sands Rush; The Pembina Institute, November 2005 (PDF 5.6MB) Down to the Last Drop, The Athabasca River and Oil Sands; The Pembina Institute; March 2006 (PDF 1.1MB) Death by a Thousand Cuts, Impact of In Situ Oil Sands Development on Alberta's Boreal Forest; The Pembina Institute and Canadian Parks and Wildlife Society; August 2006 (PDF 3.8MB)
