Canada's oil sands are thought to be the world's largest known hydrocarbon resource. With 300 billion barrels of recoverable reserves, Canada's oil sands exceed Saudi Arabian reserves of 262 billion barrels. Most of Canada's oil sands are found in Alberta, and the highest quality oil sands are the Athabasca deposits found in northern Alberta.

● the Athabasca area (40,000 km2),

● the Cold Lake area (22,000 km2), and

● the Peace River area (8,000 km2).

It has been estimated that the Alberta oil sands contain 1.7 to 2.5 trillion barrels of oil. This is the biggest known oil reserve in the world, although it is unlikely that all the oil can be profitably extracted. Current production is one million barrels per day, and that is expected to double in the next five years, and triple by 2020.