In just the past decade, the North American energy industry has undergone a rapid transformation.
Thanks to technological advances in hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling, oil and gas production has surged from previously untapped US shale rock formations, with the IEA predicting that the US will overtake Saudi Arabia to become the world’s top producer of oil by 2016.
In Canada, relatively high oil prices and new technology have enabled the profitable extraction of crude bitumen from the Athabasca oil sands in Alberta, which are estimated to contain the second-largest crude oil reserves in the world, behind only Saudi Arabia. Increasingly, this unconventional oil from Canada can wean North America off of its reliance on Middle Eastern oil.
These developments have given rise to the possibility of North America becoming a world energy superpower. Not only can the region achieve energy security by reducing imports of OPEC oil, but it can also become a net exporter of hydrocarbons to developing countries in Asia and Latin America.
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