Abstract
Bitumen from oilsands that has been regarded only as an alternative resource for the next generation in Japan is recognized as what makes up production decline of conventional petroleum resources at the North American crude oil market. One third or more of the total oil production in Canada is from synthetic crude oil based on the bitumen or the diluted bitumen. Therefore, the bitumen has already shown its presence and will no longer be called unconventional.
The order of Canadian oilsand in-place is equal to that of Saudi Arabia's. The Energy Resources Conservation Board (ERCB) estimated that Athabasca area has 1, 600 billion bbls of bitumen in-place and it has been regarded as one of the largest hydrocarbon reserves in the world. The amount of reserves is formally evaluated as 175 billion bbls by ERCB and the Alberta Energy Utilities Board (AEUB) at present.
Major oil companies are positively involved in the Canadian oilsand development as oil business, positioning it as one of the important investment options for making balance against the investment risks in geopolitically unstable areas, so that it is included in their global portfolios from a viewpoint of stable oil supply. There is a prediction that the bitumen production will reach two thirds of the oil production in Canada within a decade and will also increase three times by 2017.
The huge amount of the bitumen reserves will fill the gap between supply and demand of the North American oil market. Athabasca may become one of the main production centers and the oilsand bitumen may be in a global portfolio of oil companies as a long-life and stable resource. Solutions to problems such as total process establishment, stabilization of netback bitumen price and gas price, and expansion of the market are breakthrough points to make the story much more realistic.
