The report which was published by the Canadian department of the environment (Environment Canada) left out numbers showing an emission increase of 20% in the oil sand industry. The numbers should have been included in the country`s National Inventory Report, – an annual technical account country specific greenhouse gas emissions.

The data also indicated that CO₂-emissions per barrel of oil produced by the sector is increasing while the industry claim the opposite in an advertising campaign.

The worst of the worst

– The main issue is that even with the best available technology and emission goals for 2030-2050, the greenhouse gas emissions from this kind of steam production will still be associated with so much higher emissions than from conventional oil and gas production that the production of heavy oil from tar sands is the worst of the worst emitters also in the future, says Svend Søyland, energy advisor in Bellona.

The preceding media coverage in countries like Canada, US and UK led to a public debate about transparency, accountability and what’s really going on in the oil sands.

Statoil must get out

– We have stronger support for our cause as knowledge of the oil sands grows and it`s time for Norwegian politicians to pull their head up from the deep oil sand pit and acknowledge their ownership in Statoils oil sand operations, Søyland says.

The environmental department provided the numbers when the news agency Postmedia News, asked why these numbers had been omitted when they were present in earlier reports and a spokesperson for the environmental department stated that some of the numbers were present in the report, and that these numbers are consistent with UNFCCCC reporting conventions.