"Pétrole Social": What's That?

On April 7, 2016, Premier Philippe Couillard and four of his ministers unveiled Quebec's 2030 Energy Policy. As discussed in our April 8 overview post, this initiative is a "green" policy that sets ambitious de-carbonization goals.

The last chapter of the Policy deals with fossil fuels (pages 57 to 62). Page 58 refers to "social oil". What is social oil? A quick search of the internet does not show prior uses in French or English. The expression appears to be the work of a clever government wordsmith.

The Policy states that about 10% of the world's oil consumption is used to make a multitude of products, e.g., drugs, plastics, automotive parts, textiles, road surfaces. This is oil that government considers useful and beneficial, hence the expression social oil (we will call it "good oil"). The Policy strongly implies that good oil must be distinguished from the other kind of oil, i.e., oil that is burned.