By Georg Mascolo

The Canadian province of Alberta contains massive amounts of oil sands. But extracting the petroleum contained in them is costly and harmful to the environment. Still, the sands are a temptation oil companies can't resist. They're investing billions in order to secure the abundant source of energy.

You would have to be a firm believer that a boom is coming to stick around for long in Fort McMurray, high up in the wilderness of northern Canada. On bad days you'll wait 45 minutes for your coffee at Starbucks, and foul-smelling smog clouds begin darkening the sky every afternoon, long before sunset. On the better days you can at least find a place to sleep. But if you want to live here, it's a different story: A couch in the basement will set you back at least 500 Canadian dollars a month.

Terry Macalister, Guardian
Canada's energy reserves: It only makes sense if the oil price is high - yet it needs lots of cheap energy
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A recent decision by Shell to pay $2.2bn (£1.18bn) for a Canadian oil company with only 22 employees and no reserves recognised by the US financial regulator has surprised some in the business.

Is it another wrong turn from a group that "mis-stated" 25% of its reserves in 2004 or a smart move that allows Shell to steal a march on competitors by taking a dominant position in "unconventional" oil production?

Natalie Obiko Pearson, Yahoo! News
Beneath the plains and winding tributaries of the Orinoco River lie what Venezuela believes is the planet's largest oil deposit -- a tar-soaked basin that could help meet spiraling global energy needs.

It's known as the "Faja," or "belt": a strip three times the area of Kuwait potentially holding 1.2 trillion barrels of extra-heavy oil.