GREEN HOUSE GAS AND CLIMATE CHANGE


WHAT IS CLIMATE CHANGE?            TECHNOLOGY                REGULATIONS


 

Oil sands production and upgrading are more energy intensive than the production of conventional oil and, as a result, create more greenhouse gas emissions.  Production and upgrading of the oil sands is one part of the process required to generate and use a barrel of oil.  The complete process, also known as the life cycle, also includes refining, transporting and consumption of oil.  Greenhouse gas emissions are released at every stage of the life cycle. In fact, 80 per cent of total emissions coming from the end-use consumption, such as emissions from burning fuel in a car or plane.  When you compare on a life cycle basis, oil produced from the oil sands stacks up closely to Saudi Arabian, Mexican and Nigerian oil – ranging from 5 – 15 per cent more emissions, and results in lower greenhouse gas emissions than some crudes such as Venezualan oil and California heavy crude (Graph 1).  While the world’s sources of light oil are depleting and the average crude is becoming heavier, Alberta’s oil sands are making significant reductions in their emissions intensity.  The greenhouse gas emissions per barrel of oil sands-derived oil have been reduced by an average of 39% from 1990 to 2007.