US official views Canada's oil sands as plus for security

First, the story.

U.S. Treasury Secretary John Snow toured one of Canada's oil sands projects and said he was impressed by the potential abundance of secure energy available from its northern neighbor.

Meeting Friday with his Canadian counterpart, Minister of Finance Ralph Goodale, Snow was making his first official visit to Canada, which is the leading foreign supplier of oil to the United States.

The two toured the oil sands facility of Suncor Energy Inc. near Fort McMurray in northeastern Alberta. They met with executives from Suncor, Syncrude Canada Ltd., Albian Sands and Canadian Natural Resources Ltd.

"We in the United States are looking to make ourselves more energy secure," Snow told reporters. "To have our closest ally, Canada, with these resources available, with a natural market in the United States, it's a huge contributor to energy security for North America."

Snow said he hadn't realized just how vast the oil sands facilities were, saying there was potentially more reserves in Canada than Saudi Arabia.

Oh great, an eye opener, im sure it will help both Canada and the United States.

Canada is the largest supplier of crude and refined oil to the United States, having supplied 2.1 million barrels per day in 2004, according to the federal government. Canada provides 17 percent of U.S. oil imports and 10 percent of American oil consumption.

Source

Related Articles:

Globe and Mail
Edmonton Sun
CBC
Bloomberg


You would think this is a win win situation right? Right? Right !

Well sure, I suppose. The United states gets some local oil, Canada gets some big oil money.

Or so you would assume.


This article says elsewise:

The fact that the Department of Energy wrongly decided to include Canada's oil sands in the official reserve figures might mislead many Americans to believe that the oil bonanza lying across the border would enable the U.S. to roll back its dependence on the Middle East. In truth, the exact opposite is happening. By 2025 the U.S. will import 68 percent of its oil and half of it will come from the Gulf. Will Canada's sand be able to compete with Saudi Arabia's low production costs? If not, Canada will de facto be left with a mere half a percent of world global reserves and like the U.S. will seek to buy its oil from sands elsewhere.

www.iags.org...

Heres the alberta statistics straight from the mouth:

Oil Sands Statistics

www.energy.gov.ab.ca...
www.energy.gov.ab.ca... (facts)


So what does Alberta stand to get? A whole whopping lot.

Royalties

The Alberta government is committed to ensuring that Albertans continue to receive a fair share of resource revenue through royalties, taxes, bonuses and rental.

In 2003, energy industry investment totaled over $20 billion and supported over 300,000 direct and indirect energy sector jobs in addition to providing royalties of over $7.6 billion – the second highest total ever delivered to Albertans. This means almost one out of every three dollars invested by the province on infrastructure, health care, education, social services, and other programs come from natural resource royalties and fees.

www.energy.gov.ab.ca...

What kind of debt does the province of Alberta have?

Alberta has NO debt

A decade ago, the province's $22.7 billion debt worked out to $8,400 for every man, woman and child in Alberta. Based on strong revenue forecasts for 2004-05, that amount will now be zero.

www.gov.ab.ca...

Must be nice.

So now we have things like the Atlantic Accord,
( www.gov.nl.ca... )
and the alberta royalties. So they get a great piece of pie, while the rest must weep.

What a great deal for Canada. I mean. Alberta.

[edit on 10-7-2005 by Dulcimer]

Here is a list of Countries with the Largest Oil Reserves by rank...2003 stats

rank Country 2003 proved reserves
(billion barrels)
1. Saudi Arabia 261.7
2. Iraq 115.0
3. Iran 100.1
4. Kuwait 98.9
5. United Arab Emirates 63.0
6. Russia 58.8
7. Venezuela 53.1
8. Nigeria 32.0
9. Libya 30.0
10. China 23.7
Link



[edit on 10-7-2005 by tbare]

That list contains a flaw that would allow Canada to be a major player on the list.

Note:

Figures for Russia are “explored reserves,” which are understood to be proved plus some probable. All other figures are proved reserves recoverable with present technology and prices.

Here is a better link for 2003-2004.

www.mapsofworld.com...

Big jump there for Canada to the number 2 spot.

I really dont know how much oil we (canada) have. I guess it all comes down to how much is accessible.

Every estimate I see is different.