Tight oil better than heavy oil?

In southern Alberta, Saskatchewan, North Dakota and in Montana, tight oil production (from the Bakken Formation) is now approaching 1 million barrels per day. That is about 1% of world demand: not bad. Bakken production now challenges McMurray bitumen production, which is on the order of 2 million barrels per day and rising.

The Bakken Formation has garnered less environmental attention than the McMurray deposits, and is an attractive resource from that point of view. However, it is a play that requires fracing and locally comes under scrutiny ( http://video.cnbc.com/gallery/?video=3000041249 ). The McMurray, on the other hand is a whopping huge deposit that promises steady cash flow and stability, but is either mined (see attached) or steamed ( http://www.conocophillips.ca/EN/tech/sagd/Pages/index.aspx ).

As usual, excellent choices! What do you think of these options?

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