Oil Sands Less Dirty Than Thought
Filed Under Calgary News Articles, Oil · Tagged: alberta oil sands, dirty oil
CALGARY — The Alberta government shot back at international oil sands critics Thursday, releasing two reports that argue crude produced from the sticky sands in the northern part of the province is not as devastating to the environment as previously believed.
The reports, commissioned by the Alberta Energy Research Institute, show direct greenhouse gas emissions from Alberta’s oil sands are on average about 10% higher than emissions from other sources of crude refined in the United States. Other studies have put this number closer to 40%.
However, one of the new studies also shows crude from Canada’s oil sands produces roughly 45% more greenhouse gas emissions when compared with Saudi conventional crude oil.
“[Oil sands crude] is not terrible relative to the main crudes that do go to U.S. refineries,” said Eddy Isaacs, AERI’s executive director.
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