Commercial production of oil from the Athabasca oil sands began in 1967, when the first mine opened and began producing 30,000 barrels per day (4,800 m3/d) of synthetic crude oil. Development and investment in the oil sands was slow, and the second mine did not begin operating until the late 1970s.  During the mid 1980s, a few in situ oil sands operations began production, but thereafter growth in the oil sands industry was slow until 2000 due to very low oil prices.  Since 2000, growth and investment in the oil sands industry has expanded with new projects being added every year and production is expected to increase from 1.31 million barrels per day in 2008 to 3 million barrels per day in 2018.