Alberta’s oil sands seem as strong as ever — until you dig

It seems like Alberta has been roaring for ages, but it was only in late 2002, when the influential Oil & Gas Journal began including the oil sands in its inventory of world reserves, that the international community began taking notice. Recognition of the province’s 175 billion barrels of oil catapulted Canada into second place, after Saudi Arabia, in a ranking of world oil holdings. That new focus coincided with a rise in oil prices, triggering $125-billion worth of announced investments.
Macleans