Alberta's Oil Sands

And over the next 10 years up to 50 billion dollars will be invested to develop it. It is the Athabasca oil sands in Alberta, Canada. This is the story from its discover through to the present day.

There are at lease 300 billion barrels of recoverable oil in the oil sands, about 15 percent more than the proven oil supply in Saudi Arabia. Canada produces as much oil per day as Kuwait and is the number one supplier of oil to the United States.

"Pay Dirt: Alberta's Oil Sands - Making the Unconventional Conventional" tells the dramatic story behind the development of the Alberta oil sands, the largest oil reserve in the world, projected to one day yield five million barrels of oil a day.

The documentary guides the viewer through a fascinating and compelling investigation of the hows and whys of oil sands, including new technologies, environmental concerns (water, natural gas use, greenhouse gas emissions), social concerns regarding local Aboriginal communities, and infrastructure issues due to the tremendous growth.

All this is framed by discussions of the need for oil sands due to a tight world-wide oil supply, increasing demand and political instability in many key oil producing countries. In a post 9/11 world, where Canada is the only country where oil reserves and production are increasing, PAY DIRT challenges its audience to consider the cost and need of oil and the oil sands.