Oil sands are composed primarily of sand, bitumen, mineral-rich clays and water. In its raw state, Bitumen is a heavy, viscous form of oil. It is generally solid at room temperature and cannot be produced without being heated or mixed with solvents.

Alberta's oil sands contain about 1.7 trillion barrels of bitumen in place, the largest crude bitumen resource in the world. Of this resource, some 311 billion barrels, or about 25 percent of the world's reserves, are considered potentially recoverable under current and anticipated technology and economic conditions. Only 69 billion barrels are shallow enough to be mined.

The advantages of oil sands as a resource supply include: low exploration costs compared with conventional oil, long reserve life, and long-term, stable production.

The synthetic crude oil (SCO) developed from bitumen has low sulphur content and is a highly desirable feedstock for refineries.