Geopolitical importance
The Athabasca Oil Sands are now featured prominently in international trade talks, with energy rivals China and the United States negotiating with Canada for a bigger share of the oil sands’ rapidly increasing output. Output at the oil sands is expected to quadruple between 2005 and 2015, reaching 4 million bbl/day, increasing their political and economic importance. Currently most of the oil sands production is exported to the United States.
An agreement has been signed between PetroChina and Enbridge to build a 400,000 barrels per day (64,000 m3/d) pipeline from Edmonton, Alberta, to the west coast port of Kitimat, British Columbia, to export synthetic crude oil from the oil sands to China and elsewhere in the Pacific, plus a 150-million-barrel-per-day (24,000,000 m3/d) pipeline running the other way to import condensate to dilute the bitumen so it will flow. Sinopec, China’s largest refining and chemical company, and China National Petroleum Corporation have bought or are planning to buy shares in major oil sands development.
On August 20, 2009, the U.S. State Department issued a presidential permit for an Alberta Clipper Pipeline that will run from Hardisty, Alberta to Superior, Wisconsin. The pipeline will be capable of carrying up to 450,000 barrels of crude oil a day from the Athabasca Oil Sands to U.S. refineries.
Indigenous peoples of the area
Indigenous peoples of the area include the Fort McKay First Nation. The oil sands themselves are located within the boundaries of Treaty 8, signed in 1899. The Fort McKay First Nation has formed several companies to service the oil sands industry and will be developing a mine on their territory. Opposition remaining within the First Nation
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