It’s easy to forget that the oil sands began as a research project. Syncrude Canada was founded 50 years ago as a research consortium that included the provincial and federal governments, and it was tasked with finding a way to turn the bituminous sands around Fort McMurray into a commercially viable project. But the country’s energy sector is […]
Comment: Realize the opportunity and take advantage of it
With less than half a percent of revenues spent on R&D, the oil and gas industry has one of the lowest levels of R&D intensity of any sector. Nevertheless, with the shift in focus towards unlocking the vast reserves in unconventional formations — which we define broadly to include tight oil and gas, oil sands […]