Oil Sands Truth: Shut Down the Tar Sands

Peak Oil

Peak Oil is starting to be understood across a broad spectrum, but the direct connection between peak oil, climate change and the American market-led attempt to squeeze all energy out of Alberta cannot be overstated. The smaller the global supply of oil gets, the more CO2 has been emitted and the more climate change will have advanced. This leads to more interest in the tar sands—because the profit margin goes ever higher the fewer alternatives there are for petroleum. Without Peak Oil bearing down on humanity, no economical reason would exist to produce this energy intensive, low-output petrol.

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Peak Oil is starting to be understood across a broad spectrum, but the direct connection between peak oil, climate change and the American market-led attempt to squeeze all energy out of Alberta cannot be overstated. The smaller the global supply of oil gets, the more CO₂ has been emitted and the more climate change will have advanced. This leads to more interest in the tar sands—because the profit margin goes ever higher the fewer alternatives there are for petroleum. Without Peak Oil bearing down on humanity, no economical reason would exist to produce this energy intensive, low-output petrol.

The Oil That Comes in from the Cold

The Oil That Comes in from the Cold
By Humberto Márquez
IPSNews
December 31 2011

CARACAS, Dec 30, 2011 (IPS) - Thanks to soaring oil prices and new technology, oil producers in the hot sands of Arabia, the torrid Niger delta or the humid plains of the Orinoco are facing new competition from rivals in the frozen North.

The Anglo-Dutch Shell group was given the green light by the U.S. environmental agency to drill for oil off the coast of the northern edge of Alaska from July 2012, a project in which the company has already invested 3.5 billion dollars.

The Circular Logic of Energy Independence

The circular logic of energy independence
High Country News
Jonathan Thompson | Dec 27, 2011

“From its beginning 200 years ago, throughout its history, America has made great sacrifices of blood and also of treasure to achieve and maintain its independence. In the last third of this century, our independence will depend on maintaining and achieving self-sufficiency in energy.”

Stephen Harper has doubts on Keystone pipeline approval, sees markets in Asia

By Jordan Press, Postmedia News December 20, 2011

Canada could sell its oil to China and other overseas markets with or without approval of the Keystone XL oil pipeline in the United States, says Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

In a year-end television interview, Harper indicated he had doubts the $7-billion pipeline would receive political approval from U.S. President Barack Obama, and that Canada should be looking outside the United States for markets.

Oppenheimer: "America's tar sands and shale will be world's oil source"

Oppenheimer: America's tar sands and shale will be world's oil source

By Andres Oppenheimer
JournalStar.com
Thursday, September 29, 2011

The turmoil for reform sweeping most Middle Eastern oil producers is grabbing big headlines today, but that region may lose some of its economic clout in the future: There are signs that the Americas will replace the Middle East as the world's biggest oil-producing region.

"Canadian crude under attack on two fronts"

Canadian crude under attack on two fronts
By Bill Mann, MarketWatch
September 29, 2011

VANCOUVER, B.C. (MarketWatch) — With the rancorous Keystone-XL pipeline debate currently raging across the United States and Canada, it seems we’re at a tipping point: Will Canada’s oil sands be seen as an “ethical” source of oil, or a polluting pariah?

The other Keystone debate

Canada’s oil industry
The other Keystone debate
The Economist
Oct 1st 2011

China's cash floods into Canadian energy sector

China's cash floods into Canadian energy sector
By Wenran Jiang
Asia Times

As China has become the world's second-largest economy, its demand for energy has caused it to become the world's biggest comprehensive energy consumer. Accompanying this process has been a sharp upward trend in Chinese foreign direct investment (FDI) focused on energy and other resources.

Canada has become the latest addition to Beijing's FDI investment priority list with C$15 billion (US$15.2 billion) worth of Chinese capital pouring into the energy-rich province of Alberta in 2010. [1]

Keystone XL Pipeline Safety Standards Not as Rigorous as They Seem

Keystone XL Pipeline Safety Standards Not as Rigorous as They Seem
Monday 19 September 2011
by: Elizabeth McGowan, Truthout

Research by NRDC shows that only 12 of the 57 conditions set by federal regulators differ from the minimum standards already required for pipeline safety.

Washington - TransCanada and the U.S. State Department have repeatedly touted safety standards for the proposed Keystone XL heavy crude pipeline as robust and unparalleled. As proof, they point to 57 "special conditions" that the Alberta-based pipeline operator has agreed to follow.

EIA sees huge oil hike by 2035

Oil production is set to soar by nearly 27 million barrels a day to meet booming demand from mainly non-OECD countries by 2035, the US Energy Information Administration claimed on Monday.

Eoin O'Cinneide
19 September 2011
Upstream Online

Iran and Qatar are also set to take centre stage in a jump in natural gas production in the next quarter of a century with the Middle East and Australia weighing-in heavily with increased LNG supply.