The bad boys of oil

Ok, so "bad boy" is pushing it.

But a big part of the country's production growth can be attributed to its "oil sands" in the western province of Alberta.

Canada is one of the few countries with the potential to boost production quickly that is friendly to both the big foreign oil companies developing oil sands and smaller, homegrown rivals.

But the oil sands are expensive to develop, using vast amounts of energy and water. They also produce very heavy crude, which is less desirable than lighter grades of oil since it's expensive and difficult to refine.