Oil Sands

The controversial Keystone XL pipeline that would deliver tar sands oil mined in Alberta, Canada to Texas for cleanup and then return it to Canada has a number of serious issues and points of contention. Among the debates going on in Washington are which route would be used and what, exactly, are ...

Another round of fighting has started over whether E15 – a blend of ethanol (15 percent) and gasoline (85 percent) – should be adopted nationwide. The latest jab comes from Scott Faber, a lobbyist for Environmental Working Group, who says that, as far as greenhouse gasses go, ethanol ...

Ah, just what a bunch of V8-starved Americans need to hear. An International Energy Agency (IEA) report released last week says that the combination of weak global economies, increased oil supply from the Americas and better extraction technology will make oil "somewhat less tight over the ...

"The UK's fuel supply has run out and the country is coming apart at the seams... Jared must escape London to reach his wife and child. He siphons the petrol from his own car to prevent it from being stolen, but just as he is getting ready to leave, there is a knock at the door... It's an old ...

After spending several years carefully reviewing the application from TransCanada for the permit necessary to run its Keystone XL pipeline from the tar sands of Alberta, Canada to the refineries and ports along the Gulf of Mexico, the U.S. Department of State has finally announced a decision. It ...

Oil sand samples obtained from the Yousha Mountain in the Qaidam basin located in the northwestern region of China have been sampled, tested and deemed "feasible" for further development and exploration. As the China Petroleum Daily reports, samples contain a high percentage of clean oil that ...

Earlier this year, the EPA criticized ethanol because it has a negative environmental balance of lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions when compared to gasoline obtained from crude oil (read their report here). As there's rarely an attack without pushback, the Renewable Fuels Association has decided ...

Just in case you needed another reason to cut back on your gasoline consumption, you might consider the pollution catastrophe we are creating in Canada, America's main oil supplier. A new report (PDF) released by Environmental Defense, using industry figures, estimates that tailings ponds created ...

The recent drop in oil prices, in combination with the failing economy, is taking a toll in the development of Canadian oil sands. Because of low labor productivity and increasing costs, the Canadian-based industry is finding it increasingly difficult to compete in the global marketplace. Poor ...

Saudi Aramco's core area in Dhahran cityThe world's insatiable demand for petroleum is about to cause more drilling and pumping in Saudi Arabia, as the country is set to begin setting up shop on the Khurais oil field. A ten-billion dollar investment will be made which is expected to allow the ...