Finding the sweet spot: Canadian conventional oil
The oil sands get most of the attention and investment, but there is life in the country's oil sector beyond bitumen
After decades of decline, Canada's ageing oilfields have been revived by advances in horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing. Output tripled to around 1.4m barrels a day by 2015, up from 460,000 b/d in 2010, according to the Canadian Energy Research Institute (Ceri)—an industry-funded think tank. According to the National Energy Board (NEB), the country's regulator, that's the highest level of conventional output since 1972. Horizontal drilling and fracking are helping producers lift recovery rates on many old oilfields that had historically only been able to get about 15% of the original oil in place out of the ground. The Alberta Energy Regulator (AER) estimates that some 1.14bn barre
Also in this section
16 April 2025
Israel continues to strike new oil and gas concession agreements and gas exports continue to rise, but an overreliance on Egypt remains the big concern
15 April 2025
Loss of US shipments of key petrochemical feedstock could see Beijing look to Tehran with tariffs set to upend global LPG flows
15 April 2025
Australia’s East Coast Gas projections for a supply shortfall have been pushed further out, but the challenge to meet evolving gas demand and the shifting assumptions around the fundamentals remain just as stark
15 April 2025
Long-delayed prospects for onshore LNG production in Mozambique have improved thanks to US financing approval, but security challenges blight way ahead
