[Sicvee]

I think it is tar sands oil, and probably costs more to recover because it requires heat injection or other expensive technology beyond drilling and pumping. So they can't sell it at the current market price and make any money. Just as you couldn't make a profit on ethanol without a massive government subsidy.

Flame away! I'm just speculating here.

[Snowyman]

So they can't sell it at the current market price

If I recall correctly it costs about a dollar a barrel in the ME to extract oil. Northern Alberta cost is something like 12 dollars a barrel. The last figure I saw was 15% of the US daily consumption is supplied by Canada. I did see one of 18% but I don't think it's quite that high.