The Facts on Oil Sands

Click here to open the publication and read the Facts on Oil Sands

Research indicates that Canadians want a balanced discussion about energy, the economy and the environment. This pocket book is designed to give you fast, easy access to oil sands facts that will help you get in on the discussion.

Alberta's oilsands by the numbers:

Total daily bitumen production in 2000: 667,619 barrels
Total in 2010: 1.6 million barrels
Total projected for 2020: 3.4 million
Annual investment in the oilsands in 1996: about $1 billion
Annual investment in 2008: more than $16 billion
Cost of building a project that produces 100,000 barrels per day: about $8 billion
Total sales revenues in 1998: $3.1 billion; net revenues: $1.3 billion
Total revenues in 2008: $37.8 billion; net revenues: $22.8 billion
Total royalties and land payments paid to Alberta in 1998: $35 million; in 2008:$3.8 billion
Percentage of Alberta's GDP increases, until 2005, that came from oilsands: 79
Percentage of Ontario's GDP increases from oilsands: 11
Percentage of Quebec's: one
Direct jobs created 1998: 6,000; in 2010: 14,000
Total greenhouse gas emissions in 2008: 37 million tonnes
Percentage of Canada's 2008 emissions: 5.2
Percentage of Canada's total transport emissions: 19
Projected GHG emissions for 2020: 110 to 127 million tonnes
Projected percentage of Canada's emissions: 17
Total projected GHG emissions for 2020 if regulations are imposed to reduce emissions: 55 to 91 million tonnes
Cost of capturing GHG emissions and sequestering them in old oil and gas wells: $50 to $70 per tonne of GHG
Penalty Alberta charges to companies that don't reduce or sequester their emissions: $15 a tonne
Number of toxic chemicals heavy metals reported in oilsands emissions: 74

Sources: Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers; Royal Society of Canada Expert Panel on Environmental and Health Effects of Canada's Oil Sands Industry (December 2010); Energy Resources Conservation Board; Alberta Energy; National Pollution Release Inventory.