Canada taps tough-to-obtain oil

With crude oil selling for over $70 a barrel, costly development of unconventional oil supplies finally appears viable. Canada, already the USA’s No. 1 source of imported oil, is moving forward with plans to massively expand production of oil from giant tar-like deposits in the country’s West called “oil sands.”

For the United States, Canadian oil sands offer the hope of supply help from a nation far friendlier and more politically stable than traditional Middle Eastern outlets.

Daily production from oil sands is expected to quadruple to 4 million barrels by 2020, according to the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers. An estimated 175 billion barrels of oil lie buried in the hills of western Alberta province, ranking Canada behind only Saudi Arabia in proven reserves.

But even as boom towns rise, the ambitious venture still faces some tough hurdles. Chief among them: finding about 30,000 skilled welders, electricians and pipe fitters willing to relocate to a remote corner of Canada to transform the oil sands dream into reality.

USA Today