Canada calls you big time

[mindfactory]

Economy
OVERVIEW & HIGHLIGHTS

Everything is big here. The specialized trucks used by the oil sands industry are among the largest in the world; the size of the mine sites defies all imagination. The engineered structures for oil sands development, which are constantly travelling up Highway 63, fill the width of the highway.

And then there is the spirit of the people involved with creating, engineering, constructing, managing and operating a seemingly complex, intricate process of dreams and ideas. There’s nothing small about how they dream.

There are big opportunities here, too—almost unmatched in any other economic market in Canada. Of a total $86 billion worth of oil sands projects announced between 1997 and 2011, $54 billion in oil sands projects are expected to be completed by 2011. (This estimate includes the $17 billion worth of projects that have already been completed since 1997, $7 billion projects presently under construction and $30 billion of projects that are forecast to be completed by 2011.) Within the years up to 2011 in which the above oil and gas capital expenditures are expected to flow throughout this region, the many projects will result in 17,000 new jobs.

By 2011, Alberta’s oil sands are expected to generate nearly two million barrels of crude oil per day—representing more than half (57%) of Canada’s projected total crude oil production.

Combined, this will represent 60,000 jobs by 2020. And for every one job created at the plants, three are created in the region, so the bustle isn’t exclusive to the oil sands. Construction projections alone predict an average of $4 billion worth of projects in this region every year up to 2009.

Overall, 62 projects are being considered for review, are being reviewed, or have been approved by the Alberta Energy and Utilities Board. Almost half of those projects are for co-generation plants that will eventually provide electricity to the plants. In addition, new pipelines are being built to move bitumen to upgrader facilities both locally and in Fort Saskatchewan, as well as moving natural gas to energy markets throughout North America.

Combined projects predict four million barrels per day (bpd) of oil will be produced right here, which is more than the 2.1 million barrels per day which Canadians currently use.

Syncrude and Suncor are already supplying more than 25% of Canada’s energy demand. The Athabasca, Cold Lake and Peace River Oil Sand Deposits hold more oil than Saudi Arabia, with 300 billion barrels of recoverable bitumen. In effect, our oil sands hold the position of being North America’s number one supplier, with enough resources to provide 50% of Canada’s energy needs by 2010.

With exploration arrives new technology and alternate methods of extracting bitumen. In-situ SAGD (Steam Assisted Gravity Drainage) technology is providing companies with a way of producing bitumen without using the truck and shovel method of open-pit mining. This allows the extra thick overburden to remain in place.

SAGD involves drilling two horizontal wells, one to inject steam and a second to collect the bitumen released by the heat. This technology allows recovery of bitumen with less environmental impact than traditional mining methods, disturbing less than 20% of the surface land areas over the deposit being developed.

All this activity has opened up once-isolated hamlets, which have now become hubs for new oil and gas projects. As a result, there is a shadow population of roughly 8,000 camp workers who ride the recurrent wave of construction deriving from the oil and gas projects.

Mining bitumen in Wood Buffalo is all about partnerships and ongoing commitment towards joining in third-party ventures with either the Athabasca First Nations, the Fort McKay First Nations, Chipewyan Prairie First Nations, Mikisew Cree or the Fort McMurray First Nations.

This vast region of northeast Alberta is a land of rich resources. In addition to the oil sands, there is also increasing forestry activity, evidenced by logging trucks heading down the highway. All of this industry is supported by a vibrant and prosperous small business economy that ably serves the people of Wood Buffalo, almost half of whom aren’t directly employed with the oil and gas industry.

PRODUCING COMPANIES

Albian Sands

The newest producing oil sands project is at Muskeg River Mine, approximately 85 kms north of Fort McMurray. The mine is operated by Albian Sands Energy Inc., but owned by Shell (60%), and Chevron Canada and Western Oil Sands (each with 20% ownership).

The mine will produce 155,000 bpd of bitumen, which after upgrading, will provide refiners with transport fuel feedstock.

The $5.7 billion Athabasca Oil Sands Project joint venture has two primary components, one of which includes the Muskeg River Mine. The new joint venture of Albian Sands is responsible for the employment, construction and operation of this project. The second component is the Scotford Upgrader situated further south in Fort Saskatchewan.

Albian Sands recently started recovering the more than 1.65 billion barrels of recoverable bitumen, which holds a thick, high-quality ore zone close to the surface, making it ideally suited to mining. About 500 Albian Sands employees will be mining and extracting a projected 155,000 bpd of bitumen for the next 30 years.

Expansion plans for the Muskeg River Mine are in a preliminary stage and are tentatively slated to begin 2005 to 2010. Further oil sands development includes Phase I of Jackpine Mine, which when fully producing will add another 200,000 bpd of bitumen.

The expansion is scheduled to begin in 2010. Phase II of Jackpine Mine is also in a preliminary planning stage, with a startup in 2010 to 2015. This will inject an additional 100,000 bpd into Albian’s oil sands market base.

Suncor

Suncor is one of the world leaders in mining and upgrading crude oil, with probable reserves of 302 million bpd. Since 1967, Suncor has produced over 700 million barrels of oil and has enough reserves to sustain production for the next 50 years.

Suncor’s Project Millennium is a $3 billion expansion of its oil sands business that has increased production capacity to 225,000 bpd. Construction of Stage One of Suncor’s Firebag In-Situ Oil Sands Project is underway and is expected to supply Suncor’s upgrader with 35,000 barrels of bitumen per day, supporting Suncor’s plan to increase production to 260,000 barrels of oil per day in 2005. Future phases at Firebag are expected to increase production to 140,000 barrels of bitumen per day before the end of the decade.

Suncor’s newest venture, Voyageur, is an expansion that is expected to increase oil sands production to the range of 500,000 to 550,000 barrels of oil per day in 2010 to 2012. This 10-year development is expected to stimulate economic growth and provide long-term economic and social benefits in The Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo, as well as the rest of Alberta and Canada. Suncor’s projected capital spending for oil sands growth will be around $1 billion a year for the next 10 years.

Responsible development is an integral part of the company’s growth strategy. Suncor recognizes the need to reduce environ-mental impacts associated with ongoing development and use of hydrocarbon energy. Suncor also works closely with regional stakeholders, including Aboriginal and environmental groups and all levels of government, to address concerns related to its oil sands operations.

Syncrude

Syncrude is Canada’s largest single source of crude oil and the world’s largest producer of oil from oil sands. In 2001, the company produced 81.4 million barrels of sweet crude oil—the equivalent of 223,000 bpd—and supplied Canada with 13% of it petroleum needs.

Syncrude is currently in the middle of its multi-billion dollar Syncrude 21 expansion, which will significantly improve environmental and economic performance while increasing production to 350,000 bpd by 2005. The more than $5 billion Stage Three is one of the world’s largest construction projects, and includes both an Upgrader expansion and the addition of a second production train at the Aurora Mine.

Throughout the Syncrude 21 expansion, the company remains committed to improving energy efficiency and reducing impact on the environment. In fact, during Stage Three more than $1 billion will be invested in technologies to save energy and reduce emissions. Many of those initiatives are the direct result of breakthroughs in oil sands technologies. Each year Syncrude invests more than $30 million on research and development, making it one of Canada’s top 50 R & D spenders.

In addition, Syncrude spends in excess of $1 billion annually on goods, services and salaries. In 2001, more than $450 million was spent locally in the Wood Buffalo region.

Syncrude is one of the largest private sector employers in Alberta, with 4,000 employees and a further 1,500 contractors. As well, Syncrude is Canada’s largest industrial employer of Aboriginal people, with 10% of its immediate workforce and 13% of its total extended workforce comprised of Aboriginal people.

[Source: Alberta Economic Development ]

[mindfactory]

Before you plan to go, pay your life insurance plan or upgrade it to the fullest.

Here is why you should do it.

Ecological and political life in Fort MacKay

The primarily Indigenous, mostly Cree (also 'Chipewyan Dene') community of Fort MacKay--just north of the internationally famous tar sand "boom" city of Fort McMurray--is said to be the "richest First Nation in Canada." The alleged wealth is largely due to the fact that the community is surrounded by, and on top of, tar sand.

Home to about 500 residents, Fort Mackay is the only official community north of Fort McMurray on highway 63, and lies 40-odd kilometres down the Athabasca River. On a remote northern highway like this one, one would normally see car traffic every few minutes. On this particular road, cars go by every few seconds. When shifts at tar sands processing plants change over--the plants operate around the clock--the traffic is bumper-to-bumper and slows way beneath posted limits. Where two generations ago, there was nothing but muskeg forest, there is now sandy wasteland. Where there were rivers, there are now nine-storey-deep holes. Where there were lakes with fish, there are now "tailing ponds" filled with toxic waste left over from the extraction process--cannons are fired to prevent birds from landing in them and dying. Syncrude's largest such "pond" is surrounded by one of the largest earthen-built dams on the planet.

"Every which direction you look, they're [tar sands extraction plants] all around us, they're all around. And these two up above us here, those are the worst ones. These two are the worst polluters...that's Syncrude and Suncor, they're the worst ones because they're so close to us too, you know?" Celina Harpe told us. An elder in Fort MacKay, Harpe has lived here all her life. When the mining operations began in the 1960s, they brought many changes, including serious health problems, to the community.

"People only died of old age in our days...very seldom--maybe the odd now and then, but other than that, few deaths, very few. But now? [deaths] right and left, young people 37, 34, 43...in their forties, early fifties. People are dying here."

"It's got something to do with these plants, I'm sure of it myself because I've been here my whole life--in our day that's not the way it was."

After the plants began to operate, the water began to make people concerned for their health. Many locals who ran trap lines nearby lost their lines when the land was "scraped off," in mining terms. Those whose trap lines were not destroyed describe the disappearance of many of the animals they depended upon for their food and their livelihood.

Blueberries and Saskatoon berries were once so abundant that everyone had more than enough to flavour their favorite recipes. Now, locals report, they are not scarce--they are simply gone.

Today, there is suspicion about the collusion of the Fort MacKay administration with Syncrude, Suncor and other corporations: companies that have been the driving force of the drastic changes in living conditions that have occurred in Fort MacKay.

The facts of the drastic changes visited upon Fort MacKay by operations like Syncrude and Suncor are not disputed. Few speak out as defiantly as Harpe. Whether because of the perceived inevitability of tar sands mining or the millions of dollars in "partnerships" offered by oil companies, the local Indian Act government--the Fort Mackay First Nation--is going along with mining. (Under the Indian Act, the federal Minister of Indian Affairs has control over the funding of the Band.) While many others oppose the mining, they are less apt to go on the record in a small community like Fort MacKay.

Now, the Fort MacKay First Nation wants to begin a new joint venture with Shell in the tar sands themselves. This means that Fort MacKay will likely find itself opposed by the two First Nations of Fort Chipewyan, which is downstream from the tar sands. Fort Chipewyan has seen a drastic increase in rates of rare forms of cancer and other illnesses, but has not seen the millions in investment and "community partnerships."

Perhaps as a result, its representatives oppose the expansion of the tar sands, and may find themselves in conflict with Fort MacKay in the approval process. However, it is an "open secret" that the Alberta Energy and Utilities Board review process is not much of a process. The board has yet to refuse a single application for tar sand mining.
A notice on a community bulletin board in Fort Mackay asks residents to report problems with drinking water. Photo: Dru Oja Jay

Today, the problems of Fort McMurray have extended to Fort MacKay. There are many victims of random violence in the small community, violence often tied to drug and alcohol abuse. Downstream of the massive plant for Suncor along the Athabasca River, there is a collective sense of defeat to these "side-effects." And when you cannot see the plumes rising out of the stacks, you can smell them in Fort MacKay's living rooms--the smell of burning tar all day, every day.

A trip out to the Suncor plant by river can give one a sense of the size of the intrusion. The plant is located approximately 12 kilometres from MacKay as the crow flies. There, huge volumes of water are sucked out of the river. Some of the worst effects are the various forms of pollution that are expelled into the air and the water in the area right at the plant. Suncor has colonized an island in the middle of the Athabasca River--turning it into a giant tailings island of waste material. The size of the dykes has been growing for 40 years. Some day, they may give way.

The speed of growth of the tar sands, the quantities of money that will be infused to develop them, and the vast influx of migrant workers from other parts of Canada and beyond trigger social breakdown in varying degrees. Alienated, unhappy work forces will abuse drugs and alcohol, leading to violence, prostitution, elder and spousal abuse and children fathered by workers who are long gone.

Perhaps nowhere are the symptoms of this breakdown more acute than in Fort MacKay, where the niece of a top band council member was hospitalized after being beaten over the head days before our visit.

Today in Fort MacKay, there is a resignation of fate for many members of the community. Syncrude and Suncor make it known that they want to be seen as the companies who "take care" of the community and work in constant co-operation with the residents. Yet there are no open forums and holding a referendum or giving any actual decision-making power to the original owners of the territory is out of the question.

"Keeping you informed" is the slogan attached to a notice posted recently in the Band Council's office building in town. The notice reads: "Suncor Energy Oil Sands would like to notify local residents that throughout June and July there is a potential for increased flaring and emissions for a scheduled tie-in event. Increased flaring may occur during the shut down and start up of Upgrader 2...If you have concerns, call Suncor's Community Consultation Office at..."

Elsewhere in Alberta, flaring is blamed for premature deaths and stillbirths in livestock and human beings.

Throughout the area, Syncrude and Suncor make their names as public as possible -- on calendars, on booths at events, at parks and cultural happenings; their names even permeate annual Treaty Day celebrations.

The Indigenous peoples of the Athabasca region, in particular the community of Fort MacKay, have watched the water turn toxic, muskeg turn into desert. Some community members will no longer eat the fish or moose and many can't trust the water flowing from their own taps. "You can't drink oil to live. You can't eat money to live," said Harpe. "If you've got no water, you've got no life."

Most residents of Fort MacKay aren't as publicly outspoken. But when they get to talking, a transition sometimes takes place. Talk of the inevitability of the projects--of the "it's bad, but what can you do?" variety--is briefly sidelined, and an anger shines through. Words like "crime against humanity" and "getting away with murder" issue from people who now make their living from the tar sands and related employment. In many cases, it surprises the person speaking as much as it surprises us. It seems that having the names "Suncor" and Syncrude" attached to radio commercials, books, events and more has an isolating effect on believing what one sees with one's own eyes.

It makes one wonder what prevailing opinion would be if it were not widely assumed that the unlimited expansion of the tar sands is inevitable and unstoppable. Perhaps that confidence will come in a small community if challenging the tar sands rights to operate starts first in larger centres.




by Macdonald Stainsby

The Dominion - The Dominion | news from the grassroots

[cyberclark]

One very major oil company used agencies to hire people for their job. People were hired from Canada's east coast and arrived in Alberta on their own and, made their way to the Tar Sands.

The oil company (Syncrude or Suncore) selected 3 or 4 from the arrivals and told the rest of them they were not needed. This left a dozen people stranded in Canada's north with no support at all and told they had to make their own way out of there and back home.

The oil company said it had no control over agents.

There is a lot of exploitation going on here. Make sure of your contacts and contracts before you jump on board.

It is true they want bodies.

[cyberclark]

Alberta--The Details is a link you can find the inside to Alberta.
Keep in mind this political party has been in power 30 years plus and has gained a majority in the last 3 elections with only a total of 20% of the population voting for them
This speaks for the voter apathy in this province.

People, even from Canada that are moving to this province are exploited by labour crews paying cash for low paid help. This cash feeds them until a few more days on the street passes always dreaming of the perfect job.

It isn't happening!
Feel free to contact me for direct questions.

[pangkas]

A friend of mine told me the money is good. Why do you tell me they exploit the people?

[Ar.]

Shows you how lazy they are. We know the lazy tribe among all. You'll never missed them, but do not worry, the clock ticks for them.

[Omer]

if your lucky enough to get a job in Canada's oil exploration industry expect to earn N$210 an HOUR.

Alberta is a very very nice place but it's getting too crowded and expensive.

Canada's welfare system would pay for their bus fare home and meals ... the system was put in place for just type of function.

all canadians would work for cash , no taxes which means 1/3 of your cheque does not go to the government but stays in your pocket.

[cyberclark]

Exploitation is relative I agree. Recently a hundred or more drivers were hired from Romania to work across Alberta. At the end of six months all but a very few had returned to Romania citing the high cost of living. Yes the money was big but after expenses it was to their advantage to stay in Romania.

They were not offered any remuneration for their trips to Alberta nor for their return home.

promises made to these people were much rosier than was the actual situation they were put into.

Another group was hired from Scotland. Several of this group were stranded in the US as part of their road trips and had no money for meals. Stranded as such they were hustling for any kind of a meal. It was this situation that brought it to my attention being close to the trucking community in Canada

[cyberclark]

The 210 dollar per hour jobs are misleading. It is true that welders who own their own trucks and rigs at a cost of 90,000 dollars are getting this kind of money. They are driving from one job site to another on speculation and making good coin at it, sleeping in their trucks and making lunches from groceries they bring with them.

The bus fare statement is wrong. Bus fares are used to send unwanted segments (yes, we have them) from the province that is offended to another province of their choices. Our criminal system is very lax by world standards and the courts push the petty crooks out of the door as fast as the prosecutor can bring them forward.

I have complained about this and other things on my very popular blog
Alberta--The Details of which I have mentioned Nambia.

Better to keep control by shipping them to another province where they (the petty crooks) are at a disadvantage for a while there by reducing the crime statistics.

[Omer]

NOFFIES ALL OVER THE PLACE.
the noofs are getting all the jarbs in Canada.

i would say , in the oil feilds labourers are getting at least $20 bucks an hour Canadian Dollars.

confortable but not rich.

we don't bus our criminals and dump them in other provinces , at least i hope not.
that's crazy