What The Big Boys Are Saying

I have taken some of the best points from Shell Canada President Clive Mather's interview with The Edmonton Journal, on the scale of development in the Alberta Oil Sands.


Here they are:



"What we're saying is this is only the beginning," Mather said as he escorted U.S. Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman on an oilsands tour north of Fort McMurray."

The oil sands have 400 years worth of oil in that is available for extraction.

"..the world's largest deposits (of oil sands) occur in two countries: Canada and Venezuela, both of which have oil sands reserves approximately equal to the world's total reserves of conventional crude oil. As a result of the development of these reserves, most Canadian oil production in the 21st century is from oil sands or heavy oil deposits, and Canada is now the largest single supplier of oil and refined products to the United States. Venezuelan production is also very large, but due to political problems its oil production has been declining since the start of the 21st century" Wikipedia




"The oilsands are "world class," Texas giant Marathon Oil Corp. added in announcing its $6.5-billion takeover of Western."

To date France, Norway, Japan, China, America, Korea and the EU have put billions into the oil sands.



"Based on an estimated 7,500 local trades people available, additional workers from outside the region or province will be needed." In highly skilled occupations needed by industrial projects, Edmonton oilsands jobs will be more like careers than the traditional feast-or-famine pattern of construction contracting."

This boom is for the long term, the workers who come to work in the oil sands will make Edmonton their home. The most common cycle is to rent for a few years then to buy. If you own real estate in Edmonton you are guaranteed of two things - renters and buyers.

"Environmental effects on local air, water, vegetation and wildlife are also forecast to be modest compared to total accumulated results of decades of Edmonton development."

Canada is proud of it's natural beauty and will protect it. The oil sands are constantly being improved to ensure that the environment will not be damaged. New technology and innovative sources of energy, like geo thermal energy, are being investigated off set the energy required to extract the oil.

Preventing Another Minneapolis

Since the terrible bridge collapse in Minneapolis, North American cities are re-evaluating the structural integrity of their bridges. In major cities bridges see hundreds of thousands cars in months and sometimes days. There challenge is volume, but what about the challenge of size?

Alberta has some of the biggest vehicles in the world traveling on its roads and bridges going north to work on the oil sands, experts fear that there may be good reason to worry about these roadways.

"About half of the province's bridges were built in the 1960s or earlier, and structures of that vintage normally have a lifespan of about 50 years..."It's not saying every bridge is unsafe, it's just saying that we do have a problem on our hands," "Professor Roger Cheng, head of the University of Alberta's civil and environmental engineering department

Even scarier...

According to a 2006 Statistics Canada Study Bridges in Canada have already reached 49 per cent of their useful life.

The tragedy in Minneapolis and in Quebec last year can only be thanked for raising awareness to this silent threat.

To Read The Full Article

Hot New Tours - Alberta Oilsands

Classic Canadian Tours is offering one day trips to the see the Alberta Oilsands. For almost $500 Canadian you can spend the day seeing exactly what is "fueling" the Alberta economic engine.

The itinerary includes a non stop flight from Calgary to Ft. McMurray, a visit to the Oil Sands Discovery Centre and finally a tour of a live oil sands site. The next tour date is September 26th so book now!

$250 Million to Heritage Scholarship Fund

To those that say they aren't benefiting from the Alberta Oil Sands, perhaps your children can.

"The Alberta government is using some of its energy revenue windfall to add $227 million to the province's largest scholarship fund.

Premier Ed Stelmach has announced a 35 per cent increase to the Alberta Heritage Scholarship Fund, bringing its total value to $851 million.

The program provides annual scholarships to high school students as well as undergraduate and graduate students.

Interest from this new money will allow an additional $10 million dollars in scholarships to be paid out, starting in the fall of 2008.

This year alone, a record $57 million in scholarship funding will be paid out to about 33,000 students across Alberta." Read More

Jacos Gets In On The Action

"Japan Canada Oil Sands Ltd. (Jacos) is pressing ahead with a three-year seismic and delineation program to drill more than 100 delineation wells and shoot over 65 square kilometres of new 3D seismic data at its lease in Athabasca's oilsands."

The efforts will be the first step toward setting up a commercial venture with capacity of up to 35,000 barrels per day -- and which ultimately could help the oil starved industrial giant meet its demand for energy." Full Article

The move was made to allow Jacos to diversify away from Middle East Oil.

So far France, China, Norway, the Middle East, America and now Japan have shifted either millions or billions of dollars to get into Alberta and the oilsands. They know this is where the next big supply of oil is coming from. Why not put your dollars in with the "smart money"?

The Ripple Effect

Alberta Canada's economic wonderland is helping revitalize a dying Texas town. Alberta is a wonder province - look what it did to Saskatchewan real estate prices. Thank You Oilsands.

"The Lone Ranger rides again in Texas -- but this time with Alberta playing the hero in a real-life economic drama of rescuing jobs on the high northern plains of the Panhandle." Edmonton Journal