Clean oil that only costs $20

However, three things are holding back oil sands exploitation: cost, political opposition and environmental risk.

Producing from oil and tar sands had always been a costly enterprise. When prices fell in 2015, companies began divesting from their tar sands investments, cutting and running from oil that was now too expensive to produce.

In 2017, oil giant Royal Dutch Shell completed its divestment from the Canadian tar sands. After entering the unconventional drilling field several years before, Shell concluded that the cost to continue investment in Canadian tar sands was simply too high.

Other companies have done the same: investment in Alberta tar sands fields was dumped by Marathon Oil, Statoil and other companies.

Low prices and rising concerns over the “dirty” nature of tar sands production, which is believed to be one of the most carbon-heavy methods of energy production, fueled an exodus.

Oil sands gained a bad reputation as the dirtiest source of energy, which fueled a political backlash. News coverage of Canada's oil industry has lately focused on how tar sands production is dirty, costly, destructive and ultimately non-economical. Opposition to new tar sands projects inside the U.S. has risen in recent years.

But that trend may be reversing. Despite divestment, bad press and lower-than-average prices, oil sands production will increase in 2018.

Unlocking Potential

Advances in oil sands technology, and efforts to make the process cleaner and cheaper, means that the sector could be poised for a turnaround.

Petroteq Energy is pioneering safe and clean methods for unlocking oil sands assets. The company has two patents on technical methods for extracting oil sands in a way that avoids producing waste materials.

The company produced 10,000 barrels from its production facility in Utah in 2015 using its brand-new technology, and now it's upgrading a second facility in Utah to increase its production capacity.

The company's goal, according to CEO Alex Blyumkin, is developing “sustainability.” Proprietary methods allows Petroteq to extract oil sands without producing excess waste. By utilizing blockchain technology, the company cuts down on production costs and allows oil sands production to be more streamlined.