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About OIL SANDS
What it is, where it is, and how it got there?
Oil sands, also known as tar sands, or extra heavy oil, are a type of bitumen deposit. The sands are naturally occurring mixtures of sand or clay, water and an extremely dense and viscous form of petroleum called bitumen. They are found in large amounts in many countries throughout the world, but are found in extremely large quantities in Canada and Venezuela.
The oil sands are a mix of naturally occurring bitumen, a thick, sticky oil, and abrasive sand. Each sand grain is coated by a layer of water and a layer of heavy oil, which forces producers to constantly search for efficient ways to pry apart these components.
Geologists speculate that the oil sands formed millions of years ago from the remains of tiny creatures buried in the seabed of an ancient ocean that covered Alberta. Warm temperatures, combined with the slow accumulation of thick layers of silt and sand, pressure cooked these remains and converted them into oil.
This oil eventually migrated, saturating large areas of sand near the surface. Bacteria then feed on the lighter hydrocarbon chains in the oil, leaving behind only the molasses-like bitumen.
All about oil sands
The sands are sourced in three main areas: the Athabasca, Cold Lake, and Peace River, which combined cover a 140,800-square-kilometre area. The deposits are buried at varying depths beneath the earth's surface and are mostly covered by muskeg, sandstone, and shale, which together are known as "overburden."
Oil sands are now considered a serious alternative to conventional crude oil, since crude oil is becoming scarce. Oil sands and oil shale have the potential to generate oil for centuries.
In 2006, bitumen production averaged 1.25 million barrels per day through 81 oil sands projects, representing 47% of total Canadian petroleum production. This proportion is expected to increase in coming decades as bitumen production grows while conventional oil production declines.
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The Alberta oil sand deposits contain at least 85% of the world's reserves of natural bitumen (representing 40% of the combined crude bitumen and extra-heavy crude oil reserves in the world), but are the only bitumen deposits concentrated enough to be economically recoverable for conversion to synthetic crude oil at current prices.
Early history
Interest in the oil sands started early, when the Hudson's Bay Company first learned of its existence in the 1700s.
The Geological Survey of Canada began exploring the oil sands in the late 19th century and was the first to successfully separate bitumen from the sand using water. However, it took another two centuries to develop economic methods to exploit the resource.
Since Great Canadian Oil Sands (now Suncor) started operation of its mine in 1967, bitumen has been extracted on a commercial scale from the Athabasca Oil Sands by surface mining. In the Athabasca sands there are very large amounts of bitumen covered by little overburden, making surface mining the most efficient method of extracting it. The overburden consists of water-laden muskeg (peat bog) over top of clay and barren sand. The oil sands themselves are typically 40 to 60 meters deep, sitting on top of flat limestone rock.
Three oil sands mines are currently in operation and a fourth is in the initial stages of development. The original Suncor mine opened in 1967, while the Syncrude mine started in 1978 and Shell Canada opened its Muskeg River mine (Albian Sands) in 2003. New mines under construction or undergoing approval include Canadian Natural Resources Ltd Horizon Project (in the initial stages of development), Shell Canada's Jackpine mine, Imperial Oil's Kearl Oil Sands Project, Synenco Energy's Northern Lights mine, and Suncor's Fort Hills mine.
ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES
AIR
Numerous environmental organizations are closely monitoring the oil industry in northern Alberta to ensure minimal effect on nature. Numerous laws are in effect monitoring emissions. The Wood Buffalo Environmental Association (WBEA) monitors the air in the region. Thus in 2007, through the Environmental Protection Orders are issued under the authority of Alberta's Environmental Protection and Enhancement Act. Alberta Environment can issue Environmental Protection Orders to remedy environmental problems where there has been a release of a substance that has caused or may cause an adverse effect to the environment. Such order was issued when the significant increases of hydrogen sulfide (H2S) both in the Fort McMurray area and near the oil sands was observed.
Hydrogen sulfide is the chemical compound with the formula H2S. This colorless, toxic and flammable gas is responsible for the foul odour of rotten eggs. Hydrogen sulfide gas occurs naturally in crude petroleum, natural gas, volcanic gases and hot springs. It also can result from bacterial breakdown of organic matter and be produced by human and animal wastes. Because of this, regulations and mandatory training was imposed on the industry to ensure safety and protection.
LAND
A large part of oil sands mining operations involves clearing trees and brush from a site and removing the "overburden" - the topsoil, muskeg, sand, clay and gravel - that sits atop the oil sands deposit. The mining industry asserts that the boreal forest will eventually colonize the reclaimed lands, but that their operations are massive and work on long-term timeframes. As a condition of licensing, projects are required to implement a reclamation plan. By law, industry must post financial security equivalent to the cost of reclamation before beginning oil sands activity to the Environmental Protection Security Fund. Mine reclamation is the process of creating useful landscapes that meet a variety of goals, typically creating productive ecosystems (or sometimes industrial or municipal land) from mined land. It includes all aspects of this work, including material placement, stabilizing, capping, regrading, placing cover soils, revegetation, and maintenance. In March 2008, Alberta issued the first-ever oil sands land reclamation certificate to Syncrude Canada Ltd. for the 1.04 km2 (0.40 sq mi) parcel of land known as Gateway Hill approximately 35 km (22 mi) north of Fort McMurray.
WATER
Between 2 to 4.5 volume units of water are used to produce each volume unit of synthetic crude oil (SCO) in an ex-situ mining operation. 90 to 95 percent of the water is recycled and only about 0.2 volume units of water is used per volume unit of bitumen produced. Large amounts of water are used for oil sands operations - Greenpeace gives the number as 349 million cubic metres per year, twice the amount of water used by the city of Calgary. Current water license allocations totals about 1.8 percent of the Athabasca river flow. Actual use in 2006 was about 0.4 percent. In addition, the Alberta government sets strict limits on how much water oil sands companies can remove from the Athabasca River. According to the Water Management Framework for the Lower Athabasca River, during periods of low river flow water consumption from the Athabasca River is limited to 1.3 per cent of annual average flow.
New Environmental-friendly technology
In October 2009, Suncor Energy announced it was seeking government approval for a new process to recover tailings called Tailings Reduction Operations (TRO), which accelerates the settling of fine clay, sand, water, and residual bitumen in ponds after oil sands extraction. The technology involves dredging mature tailings from a pond bottom, mixing the suspension with a polymer flocculent, and spreading the sludge-like mixture over a "beach" with a shallow grade. According to the company, the process could reduce the time for water reclamation from tailings to weeks rather than years, with the recovered water being recycled into the oil sands plant. In addition to reducing the number of tailing ponds, Suncor claims TRO could reduce the time to reclaim a tailing pond from 40 years at present to 7-10 years, with land rehabilitation continuously following 7 to 10 years behind the mining operations.
The sands are sourced in three main areas: the Athabasca, Cold Lake, and Peace River, which combined cover a 140,800-square-kilometre area. The deposits are buried at varying depths beneath the earth's surface and are mostly covered by muskeg, sandstone, and shale, which together are known as "overburden."
Oil sands are now considered a serious alternative to conventional crude oil, since crude oil is becoming scarce. Oil sands and oil shale have the potential to generate oil for centuries.
In 2006, bitumen production averaged 1.25 million barrels per day through 81 oil sands projects, representing 47% of total Canadian petroleum production. This proportion is expected to increase in coming decades as bitumen production grows while conventional oil production declines.
Your browser may not support display of this image.
The Alberta oil sand deposits contain at least 85% of the world's reserves of natural bitumen (representing 40% of the combined crude bitumen and extra-heavy crude oil reserves in the world), but are the only bitumen deposits concentrated enough to be economically recoverable for conversion to synthetic crude oil at current prices.
Early history
Interest in the oil sands started early, when the Hudson's Bay Company first learned of its existence in the 1700s.
The Geological Survey of Canada began exploring the oil sands in the late 19th century and was the first to successfully separate bitumen from the sand using water. However, it took another two centuries to develop economic methods to exploit the resource.
Since Great Canadian Oil Sands (now Suncor) started operation of its mine in 1967, bitumen has been extracted on a commercial scale from the Athabasca Oil Sands by surface mining. In the Athabasca sands there are very large amounts of bitumen covered by little overburden, making surface mining the most efficient method of extracting it. The overburden consists of water-laden muskeg (peat bog) over top of clay and barren sand. The oil sands themselves are typically 40 to 60 meters deep, sitting on top of flat limestone rock.
Three oil sands mines are currently in operation and a fourth is in the initial stages of development. The original Suncor mine opened in 1967, while the Syncrude mine started in 1978 and Shell Canada opened its Muskeg River mine (Albian Sands) in 2003. New mines under construction or undergoing approval include Canadian Natural Resources Ltd Horizon Project (in the initial stages of development), Shell Canada's Jackpine mine, Imperial Oil's Kearl Oil Sands Project, Synenco Energy's Northern Lights mine, and Suncor's Fort Hills mine.
ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES
AIR
Numerous environmental organizations are closely monitoring the oil industry in northern Alberta to ensure minimal effect on nature. Numerous laws are in effect monitoring emissions. The Wood Buffalo Environmental Association (WBEA) monitors the air in the region. Thus in 2007, through the Environmental Protection Orders are issued under the authority of Alberta's Environmental Protection and Enhancement Act. Alberta Environment can issue Environmental Protection Orders to remedy environmental problems where there has been a release of a substance that has caused or may cause an adverse effect to the environment. Such order was issued when the significant increases of hydrogen sulfide (H2S) both in the Fort McMurray area and near the oil sands was observed.
Hydrogen sulfide is the chemical compound with the formula H2S. This colorless, toxic and flammable gas is responsible for the foul odour of rotten eggs. Hydrogen sulfide gas occurs naturally in crude petroleum, natural gas, volcanic gases and hot springs. It also can result from bacterial breakdown of organic matter and be produced by human and animal wastes. Because of this, regulations and mandatory training was imposed on the industry to ensure safety and protection.
LAND
A large part of oil sands mining operations involves clearing trees and brush from a site and removing the "overburden" - the topsoil, muskeg, sand, clay and gravel - that sits atop the oil sands deposit. The mining industry asserts that the boreal forest will eventually colonize the reclaimed lands, but that their operations are massive and work on long-term timeframes. As a condition of licensing, projects are required to implement a reclamation plan. By law, industry must post financial security equivalent to the cost of reclamation before beginning oil sands activity to the Environmental Protection Security Fund. Mine reclamation is the process of creating useful landscapes that meet a variety of goals, typically creating productive ecosystems (or sometimes industrial or municipal land) from mined land. It includes all aspects of this work, including material placement, stabilizing, capping, regrading, placing cover soils, revegetation, and maintenance. In March 2008, Alberta issued the first-ever oil sands land reclamation certificate to Syncrude Canada Ltd. for the 1.04 km2 (0.40 sq mi) parcel of land known as Gateway Hill approximately 35 km (22 mi) north of Fort McMurray.
WATER
Between 2 to 4.5 volume units of water are used to produce each volume unit of synthetic crude oil (SCO) in an ex-situ mining operation. 90 to 95 percent of the water is recycled and only about 0.2 volume units of water is used per volume unit of bitumen produced. Large amounts of water are used for oil sands operations - Greenpeace gives the number as 349 million cubic metres per year, twice the amount of water used by the city of Calgary. Current water license allocations totals about 1.8 percent of the Athabasca river flow. Actual use in 2006 was about 0.4 percent. In addition, the Alberta government sets strict limits on how much water oil sands companies can remove from the Athabasca River. According to the Water Management Framework for the Lower Athabasca River, during periods of low river flow water consumption from the Athabasca River is limited to 1.3 per cent of annual average flow.
New Environmental-friendly technology
In October 2009, Suncor Energy announced it was seeking government approval for a new process to recover tailings called Tailings Reduction Operations (TRO), which accelerates the settling of fine clay, sand, water, and residual bitumen in ponds after oil sands extraction. The technology involves dredging mature tailings from a pond bottom, mixing the suspension with a polymer flocculent, and spreading the sludge-like mixture over a "beach" with a shallow grade. According to the company, the process could reduce the time for water reclamation from tailings to weeks rather than years, with the recovered water being recycled into the oil sands plant. In addition to reducing the number of tailing ponds, Suncor claims TRO could reduce the time to reclaim a tailing pond from 40 years at present to 7-10 years, with land rehabilitation continuously following 7 to 10 years behind the mining operations.
News and Facts
The earliest known use of bitumen was for adhering tools, construction of buildings, waterproofing boats, and even creating Egyptian mummies?
Alberta sits on top of the largest known deposit of oil sands in the world.
Alberta's Oil Sands, the second largest source of oil in the world after Saudi Arabia.
Construction on the project began in 1964, and three years later the world's first oil sands facility started producing 7,150 cubic meters (45,000 barrels) per day.
In 1976, employees at the Suncor oil sands site in Fort McMurray discovered the bones of a woolly mammoth, which has since been donated to the Royal Alberta Museum in Edmonton.