Perceptions About The Oilsands

[Abscraperguy]

There are a lot of negative perceptions of the Alberta oilsands, specifically the ones around Fort McMurray. I recently visited the Boeing Plant in Everett and after the tour got to visiting with a couple from Australia. They were both highly educated and had traveled extensively but I was certainly amazed at their misconceptions surrounding Fort McMurray. I know there are people on here who have worked or are working in the mines there but just so you know I, myself, am not and have never been remotely involved with the oil sands. What are your perceptions?

[JBGASH]

I hope they get the oil flowing from them ASAP so the Western part of the world will not be as dependent on middle east oil. The job factor that they will produce is very big in itself. As far as eco system goes, it can and will be restored with very little damage. After all look at all the miles of pipelines in use today.

There are a lot of negative perceptions of the Alberta oilsands, specifically the ones around Fort McMurray. I recently visited the Boeing Plant in Everett and after the tour got to visiting with a couple from Australia. They were both highly educated and had traveled extensively but I was certainly amazed at their misconceptions surrounding Fort McMurray. I know there are people on here who have worked or are working in the mines there but just so you know I, myself, am not and have never been remotely involved with the oil sands. What are your perceptions?

[Andre Grondin]

Hi !

perception is usualy pretty bad but when they need the oil they don't give a s..t , what happened with BP in the gulf is not pretty either , anyone remember how many ships were sank in the WWII ? also anyone is aware of how much
trash is dumped into the ocean ? how many countries still use oceans and river for there sewer (sometimes for maybe good reason sometimes for not so good reason) ?

I'm not pointing anyone here neither Canadian nor US citizen nor anywehere else,but if we would make a list of the disaters that happened and still happening and put it on TV instead of those stupid advertsing that comes back every 10 mins over and over again maybe people would be more aware and more mad at what happen on this planet .

sorry but that was my 02 cents

[cutting edge]

There are a lot of negative perceptions of the Alberta oilsands, specifically the ones around Fort McMurray. I recently visited the Boeing Plant in Everett and after the tour got to visiting with a couple from Australia. They were both highly educated and had traveled extensively but I was certainly amazed at their misconceptions surrounding Fort McMurray. I know there are people on here who have worked or are working in the mines there but just so you know I, myself, am not and have never been remotely involved with the oil sands. What are your perceptions?

I wonder what their perceptions are of the mining in their own country? probably don't even know about it.

As for the oilsands,public perception is largely negative based on the bs propoganda put out there by professional "protesters". There have been flat out lies told to the world and people unknowingly accept them as truths because the will never see the truth with their own eyes.

From what Ive personally seen (and heard) they are some of the most heavily regulated jobsites on earth, and are surprisingly clean and efficent, and gettting better every day.

As long as we need oil, the oilsands will operate.The bulk of it heads straight south to you guys where it gets refined and ulitmately burned.

It would be laughable for the US to condemn the mines as well (as I have heard rumblings of).....kinda like a junkie blaming a drug dealer for his addiction right as he is shooting up.

[cutting edge]

I hope they get the oil flowing from them ASAP so the Western part of the world will not be as dependent on middle east oil. The job factor that they will produce is very big in itself. As far as eco system goes, it can and will be restored with very little damage. After all look at all the miles of pipelines in use today.

The Bitumen has been flowing for over 30 years.

You're thinking of the Keystone XL pipeline, which is pretty much up to you guys to let it be built......or else there as an alternate plan to pipe the oil over to the coast and ship it to China.

Your call......

[Tiny]

You're thinking of the Keystone XL pipeline, which is pretty much up to you guys to let it be built......or else there as an alternate plan to pipe the oil over to the coast and ship it to China.

Your call......

Not really .....

If it was My decision the trucks would be dragging equipment to the job

[tripper_174]

I could write pages and pages on the idiocy of the anti-oilsands crowd. However, I'm headed home today from the Suncor Main for two weeks so nothing can get me into a foul mood! Merry Christmas everyone!

ps, look up Ezra Levants book Ethical Oil, The Case For Canada's Oil Sands. It's extremely informative and a great read.

[Scrub Puller]

Yair...I see the U.S. media have latched onto a story that the United States is now an a net exporter of oil...they are trying to spin this as a good thing.

Mid Western refineries have been upgraded to handle the Canadian oil sand product and. with insufficient pipe capacity out of Cushing they are able to buy it discounted to about eighty bucks versus World Market price of around one hundred.

Weak demand in the 'States equates to excess capacity so they are flat out producing refined products for export and selling into a market that pretty much puts that twenty/ twenty five dollar difference on their bottom line...even with the expansion of Bakken and Canadian supplys U.S. consumers are stuck with buying fuel at prices based on the world market price.

I would imagine this is annoying the Canadians and Bakken producers no end and one way or t'other they're gonna get their oil to the coast to pick up that twenty bucks a barrel...as another poster has pointed out China is right in there, it's the U.S.'s call.

Thats as I see it anyway. A merry Christmas to all.

Cheers.

[surfer-joe]

No worries mate! We Americans will buy all the TarSands oil that can be produced. As for the pipeline, one has to remember that the aquifier being discussed is already nearly pumped out, and is polluted to a certain degree as well from farm and other runoff. Will there be accidents and leaks? No doubt, there isn't a pipeline out there that doesn't have it's share of trouble, but then, what built or operated by man doesn't?

[Ross]

What is it again? Eight barrels of water to produce One barrel of oil?

Always will be a hot topic .. Shame they cannot just throw a pipe into the ground like they do in the middle east.

[Nige]

As I work in mining and have done for years - never the oilsands though, the nearest I ever got was Edmonton - there is a saying in the industry that the "knockers" should remember. "If you can't grow it then you have no option other than to mine it."

I'd agree with other posters that we have one of the most highly regulated industries on the planet, despite the common perception to the contrary in the "outside world".

[surfer-joe]

You got a point Ross, but water can be cleaned and reused forever. The way our planetary atmosphere is going, it looks as though we will have more than enough water for decades to come, though not always in the right place, of course. We may eventually get around to actually using water for fuel, if anyone ever comes up with a way to cheaply separate the oxygen and hydrogen.

Have a happy Christmas and New Years!

[JBGASH]

No Cutting Edge, I am referring to the tar sands in Alberta. I am very much for the tar sands oil project as I think most Americans are. On the Keystone pipeline I am also for it ASAP. I have no opposition to either.

The Bitumen has been flowing for over 30 years.

You're thinking of the Keystone XL pipeline, which is pretty much up to you guys to let it be built......or else there as an alternate plan to pipe the oil over to the coast and ship it to China.

Your call......

[CM1995]

As long as we need oil, the oilsands will operate.The bulk of it heads straight south to you guys where it gets refined and ulitmately burned.

Cutting edge, if you will notice Abscraperguys location, he is a fellow Canadian.(Bold added for emphasis...)

The Bitumen has been flowing for over 30 years.

You're thinking of the Keystone XL pipeline, which is pretty much up to you guys to let it be built......or else there as an alternate plan to pipe the oil over to the coast and ship it to China.

Your call......

If it was my call, we would already be clearing and grubbing. How much influence do you have in Ottowa?

[Scrub Puller]

No worries mate! We Americans will buy all the TarSands oil that can be produced.

Yair...surfer-joe. Thats the point I'm trying to make...maybe you won't be able to...The U.S. consumer could be outbid for this oil. It's already happening. The Mid West refineries are buying cheap and with the slack in the U.S. economy can utilise their excess capacity to sell refined products i.e. lube,dieso, and to a lesser extent mogas into the more lucrative European and Asian markets.

The glut of oil coming on line out of the oil sands and shale plays is providing at best only marginal price relief in the mid west and I hear that dieso has even been in tight supply in ND.