Oil Sands Investment In Alberta, Canada, Expected To Surge In Next 24 Years - Study

In the next 24 years investors will pour 514 billion Canadian dollars ($454 billion U.S.) into Alberta oil sands projects, the Canadian Energy Research Institute predicted Tuesday. Those investments are expected to produce revenue of CA$2.48 trillion.

Oil sands production is forecast to grow approximately 163 percent, from 1.98 million barrels per day in 2013 to 3.7 million barrels per day in 2020 and to 5.2 million barrels per day by 2030. A barrel of oil is equal to 42 gallons.

Last year total Canadian oil and oil equivalent production last year averaged 3.5 million barrels per day, of which oil sands production accounted for 56 percent.

The investment is expected to also boost employment in the province by 75 percent.

“Oil sands-related direct employment in Alberta, including on-site construction, ongoing and turnaround maintenance, off-site prefabrication and modular construction, steam-assisted gravity drainage well development and cold bitumen well development, is expected to continue growing from the current [2014] level of 146,000 jobs to a peak of 256,000 jobs in 2024,” the institute said in a statement.