Shell Earnings on Alberta Oil Sands Outstrip Projects Elsewhere

March 19 (Bloomberg) -- Royal Dutch Shell Plc, which plans to produce oil from Canada’s tar sands for 40 years, earned 67 percent more from operations in Alberta than from projects elsewhere between 2005 and 2009.

The company earned $20 a barrel from oil-sand mining on average, more than the $12 a barrel it gained from extraction projects excluding tar sands, The Hague-based Shell said a report posted this week on its Web site. Oil sands contributed $3.1 billion to Shell’s earnings in the period.

Shell and BP Plc shareholders demanded a review of the risks of their Canadian oil sands projects at the companies’ annual meetings in April. Shell published its report on oil sands to address environmental and carbon dioxide emissions issues ahead of its shareholder meeting on April 28.