Don’t sell your gasoline powered vehicles just yet, there’s a barrel or two of oil still out there and as prices rise, more of those barrels will appear in the pipeline as new resources become profitable. I mentioned oil shale or tar sands before but if you never bothered to look into it, you really should. There are deposits, according to Syncrude, in Alberta, Canada, that are absolutely huge by any measure. Estimates go as high as 2.5 trillion barrels which, if you don’t keep track of those things, is 5 times the conventional reserves of Saudi Arabia.
Right now, over 13 percent of Canada’s oil comes from tar sands, they dig it up instead of drilling it out. If Canada kept it all, they would be good for the next 475 years at today’s rates of consumption, or if everyone else in the world suddenly stopped producing oil, there would still be about 15 years worth of deposits. Think about that when you see million dollar hydrogen fuel cell cars touted as the coming thing.
Two companies in Canada, Suncor and Syncrude, seem to be at the forefront of producing oil from tar sands. A tar sand oil field doesn’t have the appearance you expect with oil rigs all over, it has a lot of those huge dump trucks you would associate with outdoor mining, which is exactly what this is. Production from those mining operations is expanding and is expected to triple by 2020.
Not many people seem to be all that aware of tar sands, everyone thinks all of the oil is in Saudi Arabia even though we currently import more oil from Canada than anywhere else. With tar sands, the portion we import may even increase.
Environmentalists are, predictably, unhappy with all of this. They don’t like the way the oil is processed and talk about environmental damage which hasn’t been a problem at all up to this point. Many of us are beginning to look at environmental groups as being perpetual complainers about everything, sort of like that relative that enjoys telling you about their aches and pains, it so colors their perception that nothing can ever be good if it isn’t already part of their worldview. And that’s the point.
Suppose we discovered a huge new deposit of oil that would carry us for many years into the future. There are some groups that would be absolutely crestfallen to have their “End of the oil and end of the world” scenarios upset. On the other hand, many of us would be relieved and quite happy about it. Which group would you rather be a part of? Lets look at all of our resources as we move into the future with optimism and determination. Tar sands look like a huge resource that is now economically profitable and wonderfully beneficial. I guess the end of the world will have to wait and I’m rather happy about that, how about you?
Update: Someone else has noticed the gloom and doom crowd
Sources: Tech Central Station, Washington Post, images copyright Syncrude
see also: High Gas Prices Mean More Oil Reserves
Doug says
I’d like to see to alternative energy sources continue to be developed as though the end of oil was imminent. I can’t get to the next galaxy on petroleum-based technology.
tedder says
I’d like to see alternative energy sources developed, too. Just because we have more oil doesn’t mean it is the best for our future.
I hope oil prices continue to rise.
Travis says
I work in the oil and gas industry in Alberta. The oil sands are a huge push. There is a massive proven resource here. The high oil prices only help as companies are more willing to spend the cash knowing there is a massive cash flow to result. There are billions of dollars of development going on currently and we will see massive amounts of new production coming on in the next 2-3 years.
Heck, even China, in its resource hungry state is buying in big with purchases of smaller oil sand companies.
It is a very big deal. That being said, it does make a mess. You essentially have to strip mine massive areas of land, leaving big ugly holes and piles of waste. The scale of these operations is hard to fathom, but it is huge. All development is currently in Northern Alberta, kind of an out of sight, out of mind area.
hoyt says
Our intelligence, money, & time spent on alt. energy should supercede the effort spent on petroleum-based technology.
For those that can’t comprehend the side-effects of fossil fuels or disregard environmentalists’ views, think about this notion: what if your life-time missed the “next” power source for transportation because our society spent billions of dollars on milking petroleum technology instead of the the next energy source, which will eventually put the current hp, torque, fuel economy, emissions, etc. to shame?
What if this new energy source is so trick that not only does it yield better performance, a cleaner world, but is obtainable & managed by local entreprenuers all over the world?
Jesper says
I am very pro alternative energy sources as well.
As I see it, there’s not much sense in not pushing vehicle technology further, and I don’t really see the slick “manga” like bikes of tomorrow powered by a gasoline engine.
But what will they sound like, those future scoots? I imagine them more or less soundless. An idea I’m not particularly fond of.
I hope there will still be gasoline around to use vintage vehicles in the future. The thought of all those bikes that will just wither and die or wind up in dusty museum store rooms, is not very good either.
But by all means work on alternative fuel powered engines like we ran out of oil in a week. Just save me a bit of gasoline for the occasional Sunday trip on the old smoker.
kneeslider says
There was nothing in my post suggesting we should not pursue alternative energies, I like all technologies, whether hybrid, electric, hydrogen or whatever, let’s see what it’s all about and how best to make it work. But as some “peak oil” advocates breathlessly proclaim armegeddon and want us to rush toward their particular choice of new energy technologies, doesn’t it make sense to also make use of resources like oil sands to give us a bit of breathing room, maybe a lot of breathing room, to keep things going while we see what works best long term?
Don’t be in a rush shut the door on oil or fossil fuels in general. They’ve done more to move civilzation forward than any other resource yet. Just because we haven’t committed to being on hydrogen or something similar by Wednesday of next week doesn’t mean we aren’t making a lot of progress on many fronts, including technologies that cleanly use fossil fuels and get more energy from them in the process, that’s not “milking petroleum technology,” it’s progress still being made in a field that some want to write off as dead, … or bury alive.
Fossil fuels are not evil, as some have somehow come to believe, they’ve helped to elevate mankind from an existence that was “nasty, brutish and short.” Don’t ignore progress made because we haven’t reached perfection yet. Let’s maximize the petroleum and fossil fuel resources we have and pursue new technology, too, they’re not mutually exclusive.
Travis says
Besides, we still need petroleum products to make all the plastic that the new wonder-ecofriendly-superfuel vehicles will be made of.
hoyt says
I agree with the Kneeslider when he states continued use of fossil fuels and pursuing alt. energy are not mutually exclusive. But, I don’t think the above posts were suggesting that they are mutually excusive.
At times, our society’s “progress” is ridiculous when considering the best selling vehicles in 2000 were making about 20 mpg, not much better than a 1970 station wagon. 30 years of developing the internal combustion engine & our culture (for various reasons)decides to manufacture, sell, & purchase something that still consumes relatively the same amount of gas (and that is after going through the “oil embargo” scares).
Take into account that there are far more of those 2000 model year gas guzzling vehicles on the road today than there were station wagons in 1970. Also consider Exxon’s record-setting PROFITS of billions in a single quarter. My point? collectively, across many fronts, our society has not concerned itself enough with alternative energy and did not see a need for competition among fuel sources. Once coal & fossil fuels were harnessed, wood-burning steam power was history & we didn’t pursue anything else.
Where would we be if the diesel engine had been simultaneously developed with vegetable oil for the last 100 years ? (remember, the first diesel ran on a vegetable oil).
Maybe the phenomenal amount of oil money controlled by a small % of companies and special interests wouldn’t have a tight grip on many cultures around the planet.
Obviously, the ease of which the next fuel source will be put into application isn’t proportionate to the ease of application fossil fuels had to replace wood/steam. Lack of desiring a competitive fuel source is not helping with that challenge.
It will be interesting to see what the sound of alternative energy sources will be. Sound is key to safety and hits high on the list of senses that motorcycles affect.
doug says
Billions in profit in a single 3-month timeframe
Exxon Valdez
Alaska’s coastline, fish, bird, mammal habitats
solo driver in a FUH2 on his cell phone with a “W” sticker
Lee Raymond’s Exxon bonus for the year
Grandma Jane deciding not to turn up the heat this winter ’cause she can’t pay the high energy bills
Ben W says
It always amazes me the hippy sorts that, when conversation turns to energy, utters things like we’ll be saved by hydrogen, or electric cars are the future, or even better… you’ve heard about the car that gets 200mpg off water, right?
No one with any credibility is suggesting we turn our backs on fossil fuels right now. But how many generations ahead should we be looking? The truth is that at the moment, we don’t have a single viable solution. I have faith we’ll figure something out, but conservation will play as big a roll, if not a bigger roll, then generation.
As for oil running out, that will never happen. But I’d hate to see the price tag on the last barrel!
The environmental impacts of fossil fuel consumption are starting to have major, possibly irrecoverably damaging affects NOW. There’s a ton of science to back this up. And the affects will only get more pronounced through our lifetimes. I shudder at considering the world my future grandchildren may inherit. I’m not worried about us destroying the earth. But I am worried about us destroy ourselves.
Earl says
Given the vast investment in new technologies, they will only be developed when they are profitable. When oil looks like running out (and remember, we need it for lubrication) new technologies will beceome more practical. There is a market for vehicles like the Prius. And if more people rode scooters than drove cars, we’d use less oil and have much smaller traffic problems.
Anyway, I love my motorbike, the sound, the smell – even if internal combustion engines do lose 2/3 of their potential energy in heat and noise and all the rest of it.
Paul says
Oil sands in northern Alberta/Saskatchewan are and will be a great source of crude feedstock, unfortunately converting oil sands to crude oil consume vast quantities of natural gas, which is driving up the cost of home heating while providing a relatively stable source of oil.