Canada will double oil production by 2020.

The Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP) represents 150 companies that explore for, develop and produce more than 95 per cent of Canada s natural gas and crude oil. They announced today that Canuck crude oil in Canada production is set to double by 2020.

Total Canadian oil production is projected to increase from 2.5 million barrels per day (b/d) in 2005 to 4.6 million b/d in 2015 Growth after 2015 will bring total Canadian production (revised from last years forecast) to nearly 4.9 million b/d by 2020.

Oil sands production, which now exceeds one million b/d, is forecast to reach 3.5 million b/d by 2015 and 4.0 million b/d by 2020, accounting for more than 80 per cent of Canadian production.

Whilst the volume increase is important the product mix has wide implications on costs on pipelines and refineries to be able to process both the added volumes of crude and the new mix. Canada's oil sands contain an estimated 174 Billion barrels of petroleum, a resource second in size only to that of Saudi Arabia (264 BB).(whose figures are becoming increasingly suspect) With oil prices remaining at current levels, removing the tar-like bitumen from sand and refining it into synthetic oil yields enough profit that about C$100 billion is expected to be invested in the region over the next decade.

EnCana Corp (ECA.TO: Quote) (Among the largest holders of oil and gas resource lands onshore North America) and Canadian Natural Resources Ltd (CNQ.TO: Quote) both said last year that they plan to boost output from the region by a half-million barrels a day over the next decade and more. The two firms expect to spend a combined C$25 billion on their oil sands projects.

Other major players and more information here

Syncrude is currently the worlds largest producer of crude oil from oil sands, in 2005 Syncrude produces 78.1 million barrels of crude oil from the oil sands.

Petro Canada possesses large lease holdings in the Alberta oil sands in addition to owning a large refinery in the Edmonton area which is in the process of being converted to process oil sands feedstock exclusively. Petro Canada possesses a 12% interest in Syncrude and is has 100% ownership of the MacKay River Oil sands project. Petro Canada is a 55% owner in the Fort Hills oil sands project where they plan to develop an estimated 2.8 billion barrels of bitumen. Total oil sands reserves are estimated at 5 billion barrels.

In May 2005, Synenco created the Northern Lights Partnership (NLP) with SinoCanada Petroleum Corporation, the Canadian subsidiary of China based Sinopec. Synenco holds a 60% interest in and is the managing partner of NLP. The current cost of the NLP project is $5.3 billion. When fully operational the NLP is expected to produce 100,000 barrel a day of light sweet synthetic crude oil, with first production beginning in late 2010.

Suncor began crude oil production from the Alberta Oil Sands in 1967 and has produced over 1 billion barrels of oil in its history. Suncor expects to reach 550,000 barrels of crude per day from the oil sands by 2012.

More information is available from the Government of Alberta of the Oil Sands Consultation Group published May 13th 2006 PDF alert!