Royal Dutch Shell Plc  .com Rotating Header Image

Obama, Harper ‘to discuss oil sands’

upstreamonline

By Upstream staff 

Canada’s oil sands, a vast potential oil source that critics say comes at a big environmental cost, will be on the agenda when Barack Obama visits Canada on his first foreign trip as US president, Prime Minister Stephen Harper said.

Harper told a Calgary radio station that he has been in touch with officials from Obama’s administration even as the president-elect prepares for his inauguration next Tuesday.

In the interview with CHQR, Harper said environmental concerns and the need for clean, secure energy will be top priorities when Obama visits.

“We will be making the point … of saying we want to work together with the US on environmental and energy issues,” he said, according to a Reuters report.

“To be frank on the oil sands, we’ve got to do a better job environmentally. We hear a lot of pressure on that,” Harper said. “At the same time, the development of these things is pretty important, in our judgment, to North American energy security.”

No date has been set for Obama’s visit to Canada.

Tar deposits in Canada’s Alberta province represent the biggest oil reserves outside of Saudi Arabia.

Oil sands production averaged 1.25 million barrels per day in 2006. Canada accounts for about 20% of US imports of crude and oil products.

Critics point to the large amount of natural gas burned to process the sands into synthetic oil, resulting in major greenhouse gas emissions, as well as the production of waste water and the destruction of boreal forests that are habitats for migrating birds.


Wednesday, 14 January, 2009, 05:36 GMT  | last updated: Wednesday, 14 January, 2009, 05:36 GMT

upstreamonline article

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Comment Rules

  • Please show respect to the opinions of others no matter how seemingly far-fetched.
  • Abusive, foul language, and/or divisive comments may be deleted without notice.
  • Each blog member is allowed limited comments, as displayed above the comment box.
  • Comments must be limited to the number of words displayed above the comment box.
  • Please limit one comment after any comment posted per post.