Saildog

Petro-Canada Announces New Oil Sands Breakeven: $50 a Barrel

This is nonsense. The price is dependent to a very great degree on the price of natural gas. Crude oil itself is another major input. Supply capacity for NG and oil is getting tighter every day - as the prices go up so will the break even for Tar sands. It's like the end of the rainbow - always just ahead; you can never reach it. Once the true scarcity of North American natural gas is priced in the tar sands are dead.

The operators know this because they talk about nukes to deliver the heat needed. If nukes are ever needed the tar sands operations will die.

Oil-Rich Canada Inspires Investor Confidence

Tar sands (it's tar, not oil) use copius quantities of natural gas to "make" the oil in a process that has been described as turning gold (natural gas) into lead (syncrude). natural gas is in declien across North America and it is unlikely that it will continue to be burnt to make oil. That is why operators are talking about nukes to generate the heat needed to crack the tar into shorter chain compounds (oil).

The other unanswered question is environmental. Collosal contamination seems certain. Is there enough water? What about air pollution and the CO2 footprint?

I think the tar sands are a giant red herring built on the back of incorrectly priced natural gas. I wouldn't go near them.