Info On Canadian Oil Production

In a previous post, we saw that the U.S. imports more oil from Canada than any other country, including Saudi Arabia. I thought it was worth doing some more investigation into Canadian oil production. The following information comes from the Energy Information Administration (EIA) of the United States government.

• Canada had 179 billion barrels of proven oil reserves as of January 2008, second only to Saudi Arabia.
• Canada sends over 99 percent of its oil exports to the U.S.
• "In 2007, oil sands production represented approximately half of Canada’s total crude oil production."
• "Despite the excitement surrounding the development of Canada’s oil sands reserves, there are still several difficulties that could impede the future development of the industry. Analysts predict that the production of synthetic crude from oil sands is only economically viable with relatively high crude oil prices."
• EIA estimates that Canadian oil sands operators will produce 3.6 million barrels per day by 2030.

Some quick math to put some of the numbers into perspective:

• World oil production is currently around 80 million barrels per day. With 179 billion barrels of reserves, Canada theoretically could supply the world for a little over 6 years.
• At 3.6 million barrels per day, Canada's oil sands will amount to less than 5% of world oil production in 2030 (assuming world production in 2030 will be greater than or equal to current production - a controversial assumption).