It is all but required that when you visit the oil sands in Fort McMurray, Alberta, that you try to get your picture taken next to one of the giant ore haulers. You stand next to the tire, which towers over you, and whoever is viewing the picture gets some sense of how big these machines are. A driver of one is said to have described it in this way: think of going into your house, climbing the stairs, walking to a window and then driving the house.
Safety concerns have taken away all the fun, and unless you’re very important, you can’t get right next to the truck anymore. So on a visit to the oil sands, a delegation of Platts’ sales and editorial staffers got the next best thing: standing next to a tire set up solely for the purpose of shutterbugs. The tire in question here costs $60,000 apiece, and it’s not even the most expensive tire used at the site.
A more detailed account of the trip to the oil sands is described in the August 17 entry.
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