Report Says: Canada’s Oil Sands Set to Become Biggest Source of U.S. Oil Imports

The Role of Canadian Oil Sands in U.S. Oil Supply, a report from Cambridge, Mass.-based IHS CERA, says that in a fast-growth scenario, oil sands could represent 36% of oil imports by 2030, or 20% in a more moderate growth scenario, compared with 8% in 2009. Production of 1.35 million barrels per day (mbd) in 2009 could rise to between 3.1 mbd and 5.7 mbd by then. Although production of oil sands has run into environmental opposition, innovation in the technology of oil sand production has been constant and there will be continued progress in cutting greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and reducing its environmental impact, the report says.

While the total “well to wheels” greenhouse gas emissions from oil sands are some 5 to 15% higher than the average crude oil produced in the U.S., a comparison to the average can be misleading because some domestic crude oil production can actually have higher GHG emissions, the IHS CERA report says. However, continued high growth in oil sands production will require further advances in managing water and land use and the reclamation of tailings the waste material byproduct, the report says.....Read the entire article.

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