Canada Urged to Rebrand Oil Sands as Energy Sands

The oil sands industry is in need of an image makeover, according to Doomberg's co-founder and head writer. They suggest rebranding the term 'oil sands' to 'energy sands', which better reflects the reality that most of the resource isn't even mineable. In fact, 80% of the recoverable resource is too deep underground to be surface mined.

Historically, the resource has been called different things for over a century, including tar sands and bituminous sands. The term 'oil sands' was chosen in the 1930s because it more accurately described the petroleum contained in the deposits.

The Canadian government's own 2025 Emissions Reduction Plan progress report shows that oil sands production increased approximately 800% between 1990 and 2023, while emissions intensity per barrel declined by nearly 40%. This distinction is important, as it highlights the industry's efforts to produce more energy with less environmental impact.

Canada's energy sands represent about 159 billion barrels of proven oil reserves, making them one of the world's greatest strategic energy assets. The resource sits inside a stable democracy with established environmental regulations and sophisticated engineering expertise.