Ever since the Canadian explorer Alexander McKenzie repaired his canoe with tar derived from the Athabasca "Tar Sands" the Canadian province of Alberta always knew that they had a most wonderful asset for the future with a giant source of Alberta's "black gold".
Famous for its oil sands and pipeline sectors of natural gas, Fort McMurray also boasts of forestry, tourism, and retail business. The municipality holds great commercial potential and is well connected by road, rail and airways. It can well be said that this boom town in Northern Alberta is what is driving Canada's economyin 2012.
The population of Fort Mc Murray Alberta is less than 65, 000 and is a multicultural community. Half of its population is made up by native Albertans while about 20% are settlers from Newfoundland and Labrador. The city is one of the major hubs in oil production and houses two of the largest oil sand mining organizations Suncor Energy and Syncrude.
Housing prices in Fort McMurray is at its peak and is the costliest in all of Alberta despite its remoteness. The city's natural beauty remains pure and unadulterated and provides for unparalleled vacation experiences. There are in-numerous sand dunes to be explored, trails to be hiked and pristine waters waiting to be fished.
What about climate. It is a matter of reasonable , even very nice summers but terribly cold - 40 degrees centigrade frigid type winters. Better have a working auto block heater for your vehicle - be it car or truck , if you are visiting the Fort come cold January or February weather conditions.
The downside of all of this prosperity that the Athabasca regional area is experiencing and enjoying is that the basis of the whole local economy is not diversified. Sure people may have other jobs , do other things and be in service industries - such as restaurants , bars , real estate or work in the health care fields in hospitals and clinics , yet in the end all the work and money is derived from the main industrial underpinning in the area - oil taken and extracted by high tech techniques of steam extraction of the mined Athabasca tar oil sands.
Fort McMurray is Alberta's new frontier. Its "gold" boom town so to speak based on the new black gold - oil that is relatively easy to extract and is profitable to process at today's high crude oil prices. The economy and the growth of the whole industry and whole area depends to a great extent on continued high oil crude oil prices. It is only profitable to extract the crude oil from the tar sands at a given crude oil price. A lot of energy , and water which is in short supply as well , in processing the crude from the oil sand base. New extraction processes could come into development and into play , which require less fuel to extract the crude oil. Other processes , techniques and procedures are being looked at , and are in the research phases to require less precious water in the extraction process and the whole manufacturing process and sequence. Only time will tell the long term viability of this special economy as a whole.
Famous for its oil sands and pipeline sectors of natural gas, Fort McMurray also boasts of forestry, tourism, and retail business. The municipality holds great commercial potential and is well connected by road, rail and airways. It can well be said that this boom town in Northern Alberta is what is driving Canada's economyin 2012.
The population of Fort Mc Murray Alberta is less than 65, 000 and is a multicultural community. Half of its population is made up by native Albertans while about 20% are settlers from Newfoundland and Labrador. The city is one of the major hubs in oil production and houses two of the largest oil sand mining organizations Suncor Energy and Syncrude.
Housing prices in Fort McMurray is at its peak and is the costliest in all of Alberta despite its remoteness. The city's natural beauty remains pure and unadulterated and provides for unparalleled vacation experiences. There are in-numerous sand dunes to be explored, trails to be hiked and pristine waters waiting to be fished.
What about climate. It is a matter of reasonable , even very nice summers but terribly cold - 40 degrees centigrade frigid type winters. Better have a working auto block heater for your vehicle - be it car or truck , if you are visiting the Fort come cold January or February weather conditions.
The downside of all of this prosperity that the Athabasca regional area is experiencing and enjoying is that the basis of the whole local economy is not diversified. Sure people may have other jobs , do other things and be in service industries - such as restaurants , bars , real estate or work in the health care fields in hospitals and clinics , yet in the end all the work and money is derived from the main industrial underpinning in the area - oil taken and extracted by high tech techniques of steam extraction of the mined Athabasca tar oil sands.
Fort McMurray is Alberta's new frontier. Its "gold" boom town so to speak based on the new black gold - oil that is relatively easy to extract and is profitable to process at today's high crude oil prices. The economy and the growth of the whole industry and whole area depends to a great extent on continued high oil crude oil prices. It is only profitable to extract the crude oil from the tar sands at a given crude oil price. A lot of energy , and water which is in short supply as well , in processing the crude from the oil sand base. New extraction processes could come into development and into play , which require less fuel to extract the crude oil. Other processes , techniques and procedures are being looked at , and are in the research phases to require less precious water in the extraction process and the whole manufacturing process and sequence. Only time will tell the long term viability of this special economy as a whole.
About the Author:
Highway 63 is the only highway between Fort McMurray and Edmonton. Due to the industrial demands of the oilsands, Highway 63 boasts some of the highest tonnage per milein Canada, and the largest and heaviest loads that trucks have ever carried. Construction to twin Highway 63 by the Government of Alberta is currently underway
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