INDIA could invest up to $US10 billion ($10.4 billion) in Canada's tar sands oil industry, the head of the country's state oil company says.
Canada has vast reserves of tar sands -- a dense mixture of sand, water and petroleum used to extract bitumen -- but the development of the industry is controversial because of its environmental impact.
``We have looked into those (tar sands) opportunities in Canada and done our due diligence,'' R.S. Sharma, the chairman and managing director of India's Oil & Natural Gas Corp, said.
``In times to come, when we know that a resource base for oil and gas is drying up everywhere and the prices are going up so high, this production from tar sands will be a good commercial proposition.''
Asked about reports that India was considering investment of between $US2 billion and $US2.5 billion, he replied: ``Our actual investment could be much larger than that.
``We have a strong financial resource base, so $US2.5 billion is not the end. We can go up to $US8 billion or $US10 billion.''
He conceded that environmental concerns over the extraction of oil from tar sands were ``huge''.
``We are studying the whole environment scenario,'' he said.
The UN's top climate change official, Yvo de Boer, said soaring oil prices were making heavy forms of crude oil such as tar sands, which take energy-intensive extracting and refining, more attractive.
``There is a risk that, as dirty forms of oil become commercially more attractive, that leads to an increase in emissions,'' Mr de Boer, who heads the UN's Framework Convention on Climate Change, said.
There has been a surge in interest for tar sands, given the possibility of a major source of oil from a stable country such as Canada.Weekend Australian
