The Alberta Oil Sands from Both Sides of the Border* (original) (raw)

Policy Analysis of the Canadian Oil Sands Experience

2013

Canadian oil sands reserves are located in three major areas, Athabasca, Cold Lake and Peace River, in the Province of Alberta. According to Alberta's government, Canadian oil sands are the second largest source of oil in the world following Saudi Arabia, with proven reserves of over 168 billion barrels 1 as compared to Saudi Arabia's 264 billion barrels. 2 The Government of Alberta expects to increase production from 1.31 million barrels per day in 2008 to 3 million barrels per day in 2018. 3 The Alberta government owns 81% of the province's mineral rights; the remaining 19% are freehold mineral rights owned by the federal government on behalf of First Nations or in National Parks (11%), and by private individuals and companies (8%). 4 By contrast, the U.S. oil sands resource is fairly small. U.S. oil sands resources are spread over several states, with the Utah oil sands resource comprising 93% of the total domestic resource; Utah's oil sands resource is 11.5 billion barrels (of oil equivalent) of proven resources and an additional 20.7 billion barrels of unproven resources. 5 Domestic resources are spread across federal, state, private and tribal lands. 6 1 About 80% of the 170 billion barrels of remaining established reserves are suited for in-2 Government of Alberta, Energy, Facts and Statistics, http://www.energy.alberta.ca/OilSands/791.asp (accessed July 24, 2013). Measured in terms of resource "rent," the difference between the price of oil and the cost of producing it from the given resource, inclusive of opportunity costs, the "size" of the oil sands resource would be somewhat less, but still formidable.

An Evaluation of Mexico's Declining Oil Production and Waning Petroleum Reserves

2011

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Regional resource depletion and industry activity: The case of oil and gas in the Gulf of Mexico

Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, 1986

Stable and declining oil and gas prices have changed the industry's price expectations and, along with depletion of promising exploration prospects, has resulted in reduced exploration. Even with intensive additional exploration, production in most U.S. areas is expected to decline. What does this imply for the drilling and petroleum industry suppliers in particular regions? How should planners in government and the private sector project and incorporate the consequences of these changes in their strategies? This paper answers these questions for the industry operating in the offshore Gulf of Mexico. Future oil and gas production, as well as demand for offshore drilling and production facilities, are shown to depend on the size distribution of undiscovered fields, their associated production costs, and oil and gas prices. Declining well productivity is a consequence of development of progressively smaller fields so that long-run drilling demand should not decline in proportion to the expected production decline. Calculations show a substantial payoff to the drilling industry, in terms of potential demand increases, if it can develop and implement cost reducing technologies. Implications of these results for other offshore producing areas such as the North Sea are also discussed.

Oil Depletion in the United States and the World

Oil production peaked in the United States in 1970 and the world peak is imminent. This paper gives the underlying reasons why numerous international petroleum geologists expect global crude oil production to peak soon. First, it reviews how oil has formed and some aspects of petroleum geology. It then moves to the history of U.S. oil production and presents the methods used by M. King Hubbert to predict the U.S. oil production peak 14 years before it happened. Now the world peak is imminent. Half of world oil production comes from 120 large fields, many over 30 years old, and most are already in secondary recovery. The rate at which new oil is found has ground to a halt, with the result that world oil production is set to begin its decline sometime between the years 2005 and 2010. The implications of this decline are severe.

Decline and depletion rates of oil production: A comprehensive investigation

2014

Two of the most fundamental concepts in the current debate about future oil supply are oilfield decline rates and depletion rates. These concepts are related, but not identical. This paper clarifies the definitions of these concepts, summarizes the underlying theory and empirically estimates decline and depletion rates for different categories of oilfield. A database of 880 post-peak fields is analysed to determine typical depletion levels, depletion rates and decline rates. This demonstrates that the size of oilfields has a significant influence on decline and depletion rates, with generally high values for small fields and comparatively low values for larger fields. These empirical findings have important implications for oil supply forecasting.

The Effects of Foreign Direct Investments on Oil Sands Industry Development in Canada

2018

The Effects of Foreign Direct Investments on Oil Sands Industry Development in Canada by Kolawole Ilesanmi MSc, Lagos State University, Ojo (Nigeria), 2004 MBA, Federal University of Technology, Akure (Nigeria), 2001 Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Management Walden University May 2018 Abstract The apparent decline in conventional crude oil reserves creates concern about how to meet future global oil demand. The Canadian oil sands industry could help to fill the gap in projected world oil supply; however, the oil sands industry in Canada is operatingThe apparent decline in conventional crude oil reserves creates concern about how to meet future global oil demand. The Canadian oil sands industry could help to fill the gap in projected world oil supply; however, the oil sands industry in Canada is operating below capacity because local investors lack the funds needed for sufficient development. Foreign direct inv...