Canada needs foreign investors to fund the oil sands

Foreign investors, led by China and India, will underpin more development in Alberta

Alberta's 170 billion barrels of tarry sand are crucial to Canada’s economy, but they come at a high cost. By the federal government’s own estimate, more than C$600bn ($591bn) will be needed to increase oil-sands production to 3.9 million barrels per day (b/d) by 2022. That means the country will need to see a big increase in spending – bigger, even, than the C$100bn developers have ploughed into the oil sands in the past 13 years. Consulting firm Deloitte says capital investment in oil-sands production has climbed at an annual rate of 13.5% since 2000, reaching a high of $19.9bn in 2012. With much more money needed, who will cough up the next chunk of investment? Probably foreign investors.