Deloitte: Oil sands challenges mean opportunities

By Rob Starr, Content Manager, Big4.com

Gaining ground in the sands 2013: Ten oil sands obstacles that are actually opportunities, identifies and presents solutions to problems oil sands producers face with a focus on how further development will benefit all of Canada. Issues like labour, manufacturing, transportation and productivity are examined through the lens of Canada as a whole. The oil sands, the report concludes, are too important to be regarded as a regional asset — they must be thought of as a national priority.

Gaining ground in the sands 2013argues that, despite a relatively strong year for the oil sands in 2012, the U.S. Government’s rejection of the Keystone XL pipeline and the ongoing struggle to secure approvals for Northern Gateway underscore the need for the industry and the country as a whole to pursue a much more integrated approach to energy policy in Canada.

Oil sands are a huge boon to the Canadian economy, with significant benefits from the next couple of decades of planned expansion, including $2.1 trillion in economic activity, approximately 905,000 new jobs by 2035, and some $5 billion per year in supplies and services spent outside Alberta, with concentrations in Quebec, Ontario and British Columbia.

The heart of the matter, says the report, is that entrenched and opposed interests are working too much against, rather than with, each other. In the process, progress has been unnecessarily stifled on a range of important social and economic challenges.

The full report is available at www.oilsands.deloitte.ca. Geoff Hill is available for interviews and on-camera comments to discuss the report.