Canadian Oil Critical to US Despite Greenpeace Saying Otherwise -- Rigzone

Link here.

Despite criticism by environmental groups, U.S. imports of Canadian oil will continue to play a critical role in meeting U.S. energy needs, according to a recent report by the Calgary-based Fraser Institute, In America's National Interest-Canadian Oil.

In recent years, environmental groups have campaigned against the extraction of oil from Canada's tar sands. In advance of planned protests next month near the White House, U.S. actor Danny Glover and Canadian environmentalist David Suzuki are arguing that tar sands development has wrecked large sections of Alberta ...

In 2009, Greenpeace USA launched its "Stop the Tar Sands" campaign, which claimed that northern extraction of oil from Alberta's oil sands has "created a literal hell on earth" because land is visibly scarred by oil sands development, ... [Even] Amnesty International [has joined the opposition] ...

Some data points:

• Canada provides more oil to the US than all the Persian Gulf countries combines
• American imports 5.5 million more bbls of oil than it did in 1973 (OPEC embargo)
• Canada ranks sixth among world's top oil producers at 3.3 million b/d (the others: Russia, Saudi Arabia, Iran, China -- compare their human rights records with Canada; the other, Norway)
• IEA: oil will remain the dominant fuel through 2035
• Global demand for crude will reach 99 million bopd by 2035; we're at 88 million bopd now
• Unconventional oil, including Canadian tar sands, will become increasingly important