extractive industries: blessing or curse?

The report examines the environmental, social, and economic impacts of unconventional oil extraction, focusing on tar sands and oil shale. It highlights that these resources produce significantly higher greenhouse gas emissions than conventional oil and cause severe local ecological damage, such as boreal forest destruction in Canada. The document criticizes the EU's Fuel Quality Directive for potentially underestimating the carbon intensity of these fuels and urges the EU to discourage their import and investment. It also details the involvement of European companies in projects across Venezuela, Madagascar, Congo, Russia, Jordan, and Morocco, warning that such developments in countries with weak governance risk exacerbating the 'resource curse' and undermining Millennium Development Goals.

• Tar sands production generates significantly higher greenhouse gas emissions than conventional oil, with averages between 3 and 5 times higher per barrel.
• In Canada, tar sands development is the fastest growing source of emissions and is undermining the country's Kyoto commitments.
• The report argues that the EU's 2007 Fuel Quality Directive (FQD) is flawed because the Commission proposes a single default GHG value for all oil-based fuels, which would underestimate the emissions of high-carbon fuels like tar sands.
• Tar sands extraction in Alberta, Canada, has caused significant environmental and social harm, including boreal forest deforestation and increased cancer rates in communities like Fort Chipewyan.
• The report claims that unconventional oil does not enhance energy security because of its high capital intensity, lack of spare capacity, and the continued dominance of OPEC over global reserves.
• Expansion of unconventional oil in Africa is viewed as a threat to Millennium Development Goal 7 (Environmental Sustainability) and may exacerbate the 'resource curse' in countries with weak governance.
• European companies are actively investing in unconventional oil projects globally, including Shell in Jordan and Russia, Total in Madagascar, and Eni in the Republic of Congo.
• Oil shale production in Jordan is identified as a major threat to the country's limited water supply, as the process is highly water-intensive.

APA

SarahWykes, & Heywood, S. (2010). extractive industries: blessing or curse? Friends of the Earth International. https://www.foei.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Tar_Sand_Final_May10.pdf

Chicago

SarahWykes, and Steven Heywood. extractive industries: blessing or curse? Friends of the Earth International, 2010. https://www.foei.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Tar_Sand_Final_May10.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=SarahWykes |last2=Heywood |first2=Steven |title=extractive industries: blessing or curse? |publisher=Friends of the Earth International |date=May 2010 |url=https://www.foei.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Tar_Sand_Final_May10.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{sarahwykes2010extractive, author = {SarahWykes and Heywood, Steven}, title = {{extractive industries: blessing or curse?}}, institution = {Friends of the Earth International}, year = {2010}, month = may, url = {https://www.foei.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Tar_Sand_Final_May10.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }