Road to riches: New proposals for Canadian oil sands
Shaun Polczer drives into Canada's oily heartland. Men, money and machines travel north. Oil flows south
Don't run out of petrol in the world's third-largest oilfield. Heading from Edmonton, Alberta's capital, into Canada's oil sands, motorists are warned to check their fuel gauges because there are no filling stations for 300 km. It is no small irony considering the region holds about 1 trillion barrels of bitumen. Highway 63, Canada's "Golden Road", is paved with oil. Depending on prices, as much as 5% of the country's GDP travels alongside 500 km of blacktop to refineries and export transit points to Edmonton. Next to the roadway, pipelines pump almost about 2.2 million barrels a day (b/d) of oil-sands crude south along a steady procession of batteries, storage terminals and pumping stations
Also in this section
20 February 2026
The country is pushing to increase production and expand key projects despite challenges including OPEC+ discipline and the limitations of its export infrastructure
20 February 2026
Europe has transformed into a global LNG demand powerhouse over the last few years, with the fuel continuing to play a key role in safeguarding the continent’s energy security, Carsten Poppinga, chief commercial officer at Uniper, tells Petroleum Economist
20 February 2026
Sempra Infrastructure’s vice president for marketing and commercial development, Carlos de la Vega, outlines progress across the company’s US Gulf Coast and Mexico Pacific Coast LNG portfolio, including construction at Port Arthur LNG, continued strong performance at Cameron LNG and development of ECA LNG
19 February 2026
US LNG exporter Cheniere Energy has grown its business rapidly since exporting its first cargo a decade ago. But Chief Commercial Officer Anatol Feygin tells Petroleum Economist that, as in the past, the company’s future expansion plans are anchored by high levels of contracted offtake, supporting predictable returns on investment
