26 September 2006 -- A recent report by Uppsala Hydrocarbon Depletion Study Group, based in Sweden, said that for Canadian oil sands projects to be successful, nuclear power plants need to be built to provide energy needed.

The report, published in the European journal Energy Policy, said that because Canadian oil sands projects currently rely on large amounts of natural gas to fuel its oil production, the volatility of prices and demand for natural gas would make it an unbalanced venture.

"There is not a large enough supply of natural gas to support a future Canadian oil sands industry with today's dependence on natural gas," stated the report, published online at the Association for the Study of Peak Oil & Gas Web site.

Greg Stringham, vice-president of the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers, told the Canadian newspaper The Globe & Mail that companies, both domestic and French, have come to the Alberta area to promote nuclear energy as an option. However he told the news agency that the companies have not yet presented a workable approach.

The authors of the report, Bengt Söderbergh, Fredrik Robelius and Kjell Aleklett, work at the University of Uppsala in Sweden. The Uppsala Hydrocarbon Depletion Study Group is dedicated to the peak oil theory and publish data and reports on the future of oil reserves.

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