Crude oil reserves in the province of Alberta’s bitumen sands have widely been considered third, and sometimes second, largest on Earth. However, recently developed in situ thermal recovery techniques indicate that Alberta’s recoverable crude oil reserves are in fact the largest by far. And results from recent commercial pilots indicate very large new reserves in Alberta’s bitumen carbonates. In the latest issue of Inside Policy, the magazine of the Macdonald-Laurier Institute, author Mike Priaro explains the nature and accessibility of Alberta’s reserves.
“Adding these (new) reserves to the previously calculated 575 billion bbl of crude oil reserves for strip mining and in situ bitumen sands indicates total technically-recoverable reserves of oil in Alberta of 858 billion bbls”, writes Priaro, while “… OPEC listed Saudi proved oil reserves of 260 billion bbl in 20129.”
“The Saudis have not made any significant revisions to oil reserves since 1988 — a cause for concern”, adds Priaro. To read the full article click here.
