Maybe we could recycle the tires on those vehicles for a couple more barrels ...

The problem will solve itself.
But not in a nice way.

All,

I have been out of town and extremely busy for the last several days, and so I haven't been able to reply to the comments until today. Please see below.

For further analysis of relevant statistics on tar sands, I would also refer readers to last year's excellent post by Khebab.

--Chris
Energy consultant, writer, blogger www.getreallist.com