Oil sands operations claim more ducks 11/07/2010
If timing is everything, proponents of Canada's oil sands must be under the impression they have nothing. Just as a senior official from the U.S. State Department was being shown the environmental and...

Alberta 'full speed ahead' 10/03/2010
US senators praise government, industry, for handling environmental matters
The oil sands showdown has no parallel in Canadian politics in more than half a century, not since construction of Canada's first major natural gas pipeline, with connections to the United States, bro...

A fog over the oil sands 09/12/2010
'Boycotters' setting record straight; insist they only want to reduce high-carbon fuels; study fingers oil sands for toxic metals
The battle for hearts, minds and credibility is raging in the Alberta oil sands like seldom, if ever, before. Claims by ForestEthics, a U.S. activist environmental group, that it had gathered support...

US boycott of Alberta oil sands spreads 09/05/2010
Six Fortune 500 companies target bitumen; Albertans plan counter-boycott; Stelmach says CEOs fail to recognize government measures
Whether or not it is - as many government and industry leaders believe - a willful distortion of the facts for ulterior purposes, the spreading campaign against the Alberta oil sands is creating a sie...

Oil sands toxins get airing in report 08/22/2010
It's one of those "on the one hand on the other hand" debates. In the four years from 2006 to 2009, volumes of arsenic and lead produced and deposited in tailings ponds at Canada's oil sands rose by 2...

Waging a war of words 07/25/2010
Alberta, Canadian industry locked in combat with environmentalists over oil sands impact; Corporate Ethics backpedals on one claim
It's turning into a battle for hearts and minds that has no parallel in the history of Canada's petroleum industry and is overshadowed on a global scale only by BP's tattered and bruised image. The en...

Too little, too much 06/20/2010
Oil sands production expected to outstrip Alberta's processing capacity
Oil sands producers in the Canadian province of Alberta face a double-edged problem - not enough upgrading capacity and too much export pipeline space - according to new reports. The Alberta Energy R...

China bulks up in oil sands 05/23/2010
Forms JV with energy trust to develop Alberta lease, raising investment to C$8 billion; analyst says U.S. wrong to block Chinese
China's methodical staking out of claims in the Alberta oil sands has taken another leap forward with China Investment Corp., or CIC, offering C$817 million for a 45 percent interest in bitumen assets...

Oil sands ready to take flight 05/02/2010
Raymond James report says Alberta oil sands will attract C$178 billion over next 10 years; add 2.6 million bpd to production
The Alberta oil sands will accumulate new capital expenditure of C$178 billion over the next 10 years - despite sluggish growth in the first three years of the decade - and 2.6 million barrels per day...

Furor over Chinese deal 04/25/2010
Legislator accuses Harper of flip-flopping on pledge to limit bitumen exports
Call it a tempest in a teapot, or perhaps a brouhaha in the bitumen. The C$4.65 billion bid by China's Sinopec to acquire 9.03 percent of Syncrude Canada - a deal that still faces exhaustive scrutiny...

China invades oil sands 04/18/2010
Enters thick of production after 5 years of quietly building startup stakes
China has entered the thick of Alberta's oil sands industry, paying a startling ticket price of US$4.65 billion to ConocoPhillips to become a partner in an active producing operation, five years after...

Oil sands action in overdrive 03/07/2010
Syncrude Canada brings possible C$15B expansion back to life; France's Total bails out of thermal-recovery pilot; Shell hikes costs
Turn your back for a minute these days and you're bound to miss some action in the Alberta oil sands. In the space of 48 hours, starting Feb. 24, the news came in a torrent. • Syncrude Canada pumped f...

Waving the oil sands banner 02/14/2010
Various industry leaders mount case for oil sands-derived exports to US
Those opposed to the "dirty oil" and "fossil of the year" labels that have been stuck on Alberta's oil sands are answering back. One of the strong messages, especially to his U.S. audience, came from...

COST pays the cost 02/07/2010
Oil sands trust writes down C$148M of High Arctic gas purchase, conceding it's been overtaken by shale gas, delays in other Arctic projects
A long-shot bet by one of Alberta's biggest oil sands producers to lock up natural gas resources in the farthest reaches of the Canadian Arctic has turned sour. In 2006, Canadian Oil Sands Trust emerg...

On the one hand, on... 12/20/2009
Husky, Nexen on opposite sides of cap-ex fence in Canada as analysts count on largest companies sticking close to '09 spending
As Canada's leading upstream companies start to unveil their 2010 capital spending programs, some appear more inclined to bide their time than others. Analysts doubt the budgets of major players will...

Asia-bound, 'sooner rather than later' 11/29/2009
Enbridge, Kinder on verge of revealing strategies to open new markets for Alberta oil sands production, urged on by interest groups
Between now and mid-2010, the prospects of shipping bitumen from the Alberta oil sands to Asian refineries are heading toward make-or-break decisions. Enbridge anticipates submitting an application to...