Higher prices at the pump have also made extraction from oil sands and heavy oil feasible.
De Margerie says that what he likes about Fort Hills is Petro-Canada's vast oil sands experience.
"Avatar" is already being used to rally environmentalists against Canada's oil sands industry.
The future of oil sands is here: they are cost effective and their face is green.
The oil sands are pretty controversial stuff, however, associated with derelict, broken landscapes and carbon emissions.
As for Canada's heralded oil sands region--sure it's a massive resource, but easy oil it ain't.
Oil sands require monstrous amounts of water and natural gas to recover and process.
In one swift move, Mr. Waxman has elevated the oil sands debate to a new level.
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For investors, it would be bad news for shareholders of TransCanada Corp. and oil sands companies.
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Given the amount of bad press the oil sands get, this could come as a shocker.
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Until it does, the oil sands will continue fuel American vehicles and power U.S. industries.
The company is targeting average oil sands production of 280, 000 bpd for the year.
Oil sands are naturally occurring geologic formations that contain a mixture of water, sand, and bitumen.
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As the production for Canadian oil sands has increased, Cushing has become a major choke point.
Keystone XL would bring massive amounts of oil from Canadian oil sands to the U.S market.
Environmentalists are openly using the project as a proxy for their general opposition to oil sands development.
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Hopkins spent the winter drilling, and in April said 19 of his 24 holes found oil sands.
As oil grows scarce, the price will soar, they say, making even oil sands a cash cow.
And it is the Athabasca oil sands of Alberta, Canada, that are number one on the list.
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All that pipeline bickering in the U.S. originates in Fort McMurray and its giant oil sands fields.
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One thing that Suncor is not selling is its 12% stake in giant oil sands producer Syncrude.
The refineries at the gulf have already been retooled to receive the oil sands, creating more jobs.
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To legitimize the effort, Brock recruited Christopher Hopkins, cofounder of a true oil sands success story, Synenco Energy.
The uplifting also means that oil sands deposits are relatively shallow: some can even be surface-mined like coal.
Because of this additional history, oil sands differ in structure as well as content from conventional oil deposits.
Compounding the risk, as well as the potential reward, Horizon will process the oil sands all by itself.
For now, investment into the Canadian oil sands is about to increase dramatically, and things are moving rapidly.
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And God gazed upon the vastness of the Canadian oil sands and pronounced them to be a curse.
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That changed the nature of the business from primarily an oil sands operation to a more diversified company.
The oil sands were an important national resource, but had to be expanded in an environmentally friendly way.
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