In order to appreciate the potential of oil sands in Canada, there are several regional settings that must be defined. The largest area of recognized oil sand development is the Athabasca Oil Sands Region that holds both a surface mining component as well as in situ development. This region has heavy oil trapped primarily in the Lower Cretaceous Wabiskaw-McMurray stratigraphic zone. The second established region, Cold Lake Oil Sands Region, is restricted to in situ projects only, and the third significant region is the Peace River Oil Sands that produces oil from the Lower Cretaceous Bluesky-Gething sands. This study gives a detailed prospective of these three significant oil sand areas.