Where Oil is Mined, Not Pumped

High demand for petroleum makes a boomtown in northern Alberta

Along Highway 63 here the rolling hills give way to massive open pits, huge waste ponds and tangles of pipes and refining equipment that spew smoke into the air.

In the pits, shovel trucks load dirt into dump trucks that are so gigantic a driver has to climb a ladder attached to the front grille to get behind the steering wheel.

The changing landscape reflects an ambitious quest to develop a new source of oil. Major companies — faced with tougher prospects for developing big new oil fields around the world — are doing what was once unthinkable: sinking billions of dollars into projects to wring oil out of deposits of petroleum buried amid sand and clay.

Until a few years ago, such projects — called “oil sands” or “tar sands” — sputtered at the fringes of the oil industry. But since technological breakthroughs brought down costs and oil prices have soared, companies have been investing heavily here. Oil-sands production is now profitable when a barrel of oil sells in the low $20s, analysts said — far below the recent $50 range.