The Oil Sands Of Alberta

Jan. 22, 2005(CBS) There’s an oil boom going on right now. Not in Saudi Arabia or Kuwait or any of those places, but 600 miles north of Montana.

In Alberta, Canada, in a town called Fort McMurray where, this time of year, the temperature sometimes zooms up to zero.

The oilmen up there aren’t digging holes in the sand and hoping for a spout. They’re digging up dirt — dirt that is saturated with oil. They’re called oil sands, and if you’ve never heard of them then you’re in for a big surprise because the reserves are so vast in the province of Alberta that they will help solve America’s energy needs for the next century.

Within a few years, the oil sands are likely to become more important to the United States than all the oil that comes to us from Saudi Arabia.

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<a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/01/20/60minutes/printable1225184.shtml">http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/01/20/60minutes/printable1225184.shtml</a> Received on Wed Jan 25 10:43:00 2006