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Topic: Oil sands

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Athabasca Oil Sands

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	Athabasca Oil Sands - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
		The Athabasca oil sands are named after the Athabasca River which cuts through the heart of the deposit, and traces of the heavy oil are readily observed on the river banks.
		The Athabasca oil sands are primarily located in and around the city of Fort McMurray which was still, in the late 1950s, primarily a wilderness outpost of a few hundred people whose main economic activities included fur trapping and salt mining.
		Conventional estimates of oil reserves are really calculations of the geological risk of drilling for oil, but in the oil sands there is very little geological risk because they outcrop on the surface and are extremely easy to find.
	en.wikipedia.org /wiki/Athabasca_Tar_Sands (3124 words)

	Tar sands - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
		Conventional oil is extracted by drilling traditional wells into the ground whereas tar sand deposits are mined using strip mining techniques, or persuaded to flow into producing wells by in situ techniques which reduce the bitumen's viscosity with steam and/or solvents.
		To distinguish the bitumen and synthetic oil extracted from tar sands from the free-flowing hydrocarbon mixtures known as crude oil that oil companies have traditionally produced from oil wells, tar sands are often referred to as non-conventional oil.
		The Alberta oil sands deposits contain at least 85% of the world's total bitumen reserves but are so concentrated as to be the only such deposits that are economically recoverable for conversion to oil.
	en.wikipedia.org /wiki/Oil_sands (2848 words)

	Oil Sands Mega-Project Hits Alberta
		The deeper oil sands reserves are recovered by drilling horizontal wells and injecting massive amounts of steam deep into the ground—using nine barrels of water to produce one barrel of oil.
		The oil sands are already the biggest single emitter in Alberta of sulphur dioxide, a component of acid rain and greenhouse gases.
		Oil sands development will also be disastrous for indigenous peoples in the boreal forest, overlapping upon much of the 10,000-square-kilometer unceded traditional territory of the Lubicon Cree.
	www.culturechange.org /issue10/oil-sands-alberta.htm (667 words)

	Oil Sands
		Oil Sands are deposits of bitumen, a molasses-like viscous oil that will not flow unless heated or diluted with lighter hydrocarbons.
		Alberta's oil sands industry is the result of multi-billion-dollar investments in infrastructure and technology required to develop the non-conventional resource.
		In 2003 Alberta's oil sands were the source of about 52.7 per cent of the province's total crude oil and equivalent production and about 34.8 per cent of all crude oil and equivalent produced in Canada.
	www.energy.gov.ab.ca /89.asp (435 words)

	Oil (Tar) Sands
		Today these oil sands are recovered in open-pit mines by truck-and-shovel operations in which the world's largest Caterpillar 797 and 797B trucks have payloads of 380 tons.
		Oil sand is transported to processing plants, where hot or warm water separates the bitumen from the sand, followed by dilution with lighter hydrocarbons and upgrading to synthetic crude oil (SCO).
		About 20 percent of the oil sands reserves in Alberta are recoverable by surface mining; in-situ technologies (such as Steam Assisted Gravity Drainage, or SAGD, and Cyclic Steam Stimulation, or CSS) need to be used for the remaining 80 percent of the oil sands that are buried at depth (greater than 75 meters).
	emd.aapg.org /technical_areas/oil_sands.cfm (612 words)

	Oil Sands Resources
		Alberta's oil sands extend from surface deposits to deposits at depths of 760 metres or greater and are enormous, even by world standards.
		About 10 percent of the oil sands at Athabasca lie close enough to the surface to be mined, using the world's largest trucks and shovels to collect the bitumen and then applying heat, water and chemicals to separate bitumen from the sands.
		Deeper oil sands deposits require in-situ ("in place") recovery techniques, usually involving steam injection or underground combustion to reduce the viscosity of the bitumen so it can be pumped to the surface through conventional wells.
	www.abheritage.ca /abresources/inventory/resources_hydro_sands.html (215 words)

	Green Car Congress: Oil Sands Fever
		Oil sands are a mixture of sand, clay, water and deposits of bitumen—a very viscous form of oil that must be rigorously treated in order to convert it into an upgraded crude oil before it can be used in refineries to produce gasoline and other fuels.
		Oil sands production can be divided into in-situ production (heating and other processing of the tar-like sands while still underground to release the oil, with subsequent extraction) and mined production (where the sands are mined, and then hauled to a retort for processing).
		Oil sands promise to be an ecological disaster of immense proportions.
	www.greencarcongress.com /2005/11/oil_sands_fever.html (2542 words)

	Western Oil Sands (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-23)
		Oil sands are a mixture of sand, bitumen and water.
		Each grain of oil sand has three layers: an "envelope" of water surrounding a grain of sand, with bitumen surrounding the water to form the outer layer.
		The bitumen from the oil sands is upgraded into high-grade oil known as synthetic crude oil.
	www.westernoilsands.com /html/business/introduction.html (769 words)

	Tar Sands
		Oil sands are deposits of bitumen; viscous oil that must be rigorously treated in order to convert it into an upgraded crude oil before it can be used in refineries to produce gasoline and other fuels.
		Oil sands operations emit carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas (GHG), which is considered to be a contributor to climate change.
		Developers are required to restore oil sand mining sites to at least the equivalent of their previous biological productivity; which is to say that the region as a whole forms an ecosystem and landscape that is as least as healthy and productive as the one that existed before it.
	ffden-2.phys.uaf.edu /102spring2002_Web_projects/M.Sexton (837 words)

	Michael Fumento: Fill 'er Up with Oil Sands!
		The evidence is in something called oil sands (also called tar sands), a gooey substance that can be surface mined as coal often is. The oil is then separated from the dirt using energy from oil or natural gas extracted from the site itself to produce a thick liquid called bitumen.
		Oil sands in a single Venezuelan deposit contain an estimated 1.8 trillion barrels of petroleum, with 1.7 trillion in a single Canadian deposit.
		Oil sands as a whole provide over a third of the nation's needs, with almost all of the rest going to the U.S. Between pumped oil and oil from sands, Canada is our largest supplier of crude and refined petroleum.
	www.fumento.com /environment/oilsands.html (733 words)

	Oh, Canada's Oil Sands [Fool.com: Commentary] October 19, 2005
		According to the Oil Sands Discovery Centre, Alberta's oil sands are the largest known reserve of oil on earth, with between 1.7 and 2.5 trillion barrels of non-conventional oil (yes, that was trillion with a "t").
		The "oil sands" are heavy hydrocarbon deposits that mix bitumen, sand, water, and clay.
		The bitumen is removed from the oil sands and upgraded by removing carbon and adding hydrogen.
	www.fool.com /news/commentary/2005/commentary05101904.htm (1368 words)

	RedOrbit - Science - Taxing the Oil Sands
		Oil sands projects are generally subject to the same elements of taxation that apply to other industries in Canada.
		oil sands royalties for 2006 are expected to decrease to $393 million and then increase to $560 million for 2007 and $710 million for 2008.
		Taxation of the oil sands is largely driven by existing rules that apply to conventional oil and gas and to conventional mining operations.
	www.redorbit.com /news/science/335220/taxing_the_oil_sands/index.html?source=r_science (1673 words)

	FUELING AMERICA / OIL'S DIRTY FUTURE / Canadian oil sands: Vast reserves second to Saudi Arabia will keep America ... (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-23)
		Yet Alberta's oil sands are destined to be the main supply of foreign oil to the United States for at least the next century.
		At the oil sands, in contrast, production is expected to soar from the current 1 million barrels a day to 2 million a day by 2010, rising to 3 million by 2020 and later to as much as 5 million for decades to come.
		Now, with $50-a-barrel oil making it profitable to extract even deeply buried or dispersed formations of oil sands, producers say the reserves could be as large as 314 billion barrels.
	www.sfgate.com /cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2005/05/22/MNG46CMUPL60.DTL (2112 words)

	Turning tar sands into oil \| EnergyBulletin.net \| Peak Oil News Clearinghouse
		Oil & Gas Journal estimates close to 180 billion barrels, second only to Saudi Arabia's approximately 260 billion, while BP Statistical Review of World Energy puts the figure at about 17 billion barrels, based on oil sands under active development.
		The tar sands are mostly mined, but they are pumped, too, after high-pressure steam is injected underground to separate the valuable oily bitumen from the sand, consuming huge amounts of water.
		Oil companies began trying in the 1970s to commercialize oil shale, but those efforts were largely abandoned by the 1980s as oil prices fell, concerns rose over environmental damage and technical problems persisted.
	www.energybulletin.net /7331.html (1572 words)

	Canadian Oil Sands
		By most estimates, there is more oil in the so-called "tar sands" than there is in all of Saudi Arabia, or about 300 billion barrels that is recoverable using existing technology.
		One of the reasons why the oil sands haven't played a larger role on the public policy stage is that until fairly recently, getting oil out of the ground in northern Alberta was time-consuming and expensive.
		But then oil was discovered in Saudi Arabia, and the seeds of OPEC and the energy dominance of the Middle East were sown - something the United States may want to reconsider in the light of current events.
	www.growley.com /war/can-oil.html (904 words)

	Past Peak: The Environmental Cost Of Oil Sands (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-23)
		Because the oil sands region is so remote, the environmental damage receives little attention from the Canadian news media or public comment from Prime Minister Paul Martin's government.
		The environmentalists also warn that the growing oil sands industry threatens to tear up a huge stretch of Canada's boreal forest, which is a nursery for hundreds of bird species and where bogs filter water and store carbon that would otherwise be released into the atmosphere.
		Oil companies are taking steps to reduce the environmental damage, and technology improvements will help, but we should not kid ourselves about the tradeoffs here.
	www.pastpeak.com /archives/2005/10/the_environment.htm (1034 words)

	About Oil Sands
		Oil sands are deposits of bitumen, a heavy fl viscous oil that must be rigorously treated to convert it into an upgraded crude oil before it can be used by refineries to produce gasoline and diesel fuels.
		Oil prices are set in an open and competitive market and are influenced by many variables throughout North America and the world.
		Alberta's oil sands underlie140, 800 square kilometers (54,363 square miles) of primarily northern Alberta; an area larger than the state of Florida.
	www.energy.gov.ab.ca /88.asp (286 words)

	United States And China Covet Oil Sands - Forbes.com (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-23)
		There are two methods of oil sand production: mining and "in situ." The mining approach excavates the oil sand, removes it by truck and separates the bitumen from the sand by adding warm water and agitating it.
		In contrast, the in situ process removes the oil from the sand underground through a variety of methods, such as cyclic steam stimulation or steam-assisted gravity drainage.
		Economic gains from the oil sands boom are concentrated in the Canadian west.
	www.forbes.com /work/businesschina/2005/09/09/exxon-canada-oil-cx_0912oxan_canadaoil.html (893 words)

	The Oil Sands Of Alberta, Where Black Gold And Riches Can Be Found In The Sand - CBS News
		They’re called oil sands, and if you’ve never heard of them then you’re in for a big surprise because the reserves are so vast in the province of Alberta that they will help solve America’s energy needs for the next century.
		The oil sands are buried under forests in Alberta that are the size of Florida.
		The oil sands have been in the ground for millions of years, but for decades, prospectors lost millions of dollars trying to squeeze the oil out of the sand.
	www.cbsnews.com /stories/2006/01/20/60minutes/main1225184.shtml (1004 words)

	Alberta-Canada.com :: Oil & Gas :: Alberta Oil Sands
		Construction of oil sands industry projects is a major driver behind the current level of economic activity in Alberta.
		Oil sands industry expansion also places stresses on the social fabric and the biophysical environment.
		AED produces the Oil Sands Industry Update to provide an overview of oil sands industry expansion, its effects on the region, and its impacts on departments of the Alberta Government to facilitate information sharing.
	www.alberta-canada.com /oandg/oilsands.cfm (266 words)

	What are the Alberta oil sands (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-23)
		Oil sands (also called ‘tar sands’) are found in about 70 countries in the world, from Venezuela and Trinidad/Tobago in the Caribbean to as far north as Russia.
		Oil sands consist of bitumen (soluble organic matter, solid at room temperature) and host sediment, with associated minerals, and excluding any related natural gas.
		The crude bitumen within the sands is a naturally occurring viscous mixture of hydrocarbons (generally heavier than pentane), often with sulphur compounds, that will not flow to a wellbore in its natural state.
	www.ags.gov.ab.ca /activities/CBM/alberta_oil_sands.html (325 words)

	Geotimes - March 2003 - Canadian Oil Sands
		Estimates of Canada’s oil reserves jumped from 4.9 billion barrels to 180 billion this year, making the country the second-largest oil reserve in the world, according to an annual survey conducted by the Oil and Gas Journal.
		In order for an oil resource to be termed a reserve, it must be possible to extract it profitably with existing technologies and under present economic conditions.
		The riches of the oil sands lie in bitumen, a thick and tar-like hydrocarbon mixed in with sand, water and clay.
	www.geotimes.org /mar03/NN_canada.html (558 words)

	OilSands.InfoMine.com - Oil Sands Intelligence and Technology
		This site is designed specifically for the oil sands market and contains up-to-date news, details of companies involved in oil sands exploration and development, property details, suppliers, equipment, careers and much more, covering all aspects of the business including mining, bitumen extraction, upgrading and construction.
		Once a footnote in the story of world oil production, Canada's oil sands are part of the solution to declining conventional oil reserves elsewhere in the world.
		Western Oil Sands Inc. (TSX:WTO) posted a loss of $22.8 million in the second quarter, reversing a profit of $28.7 million in the same period a year ago, as production dropped due to a maintenance shutdown at its joint venture in the Alberta oilsands.
	oilsands.infomine.com (1284 words)

	Hydrocarbons Technology - News and Information About the New Athabasca Oil Sands Project
		The Athabasca Oil Sands Project is the first new fully integrated oil sands development in 25 years.
		The material is mixed with warm water to separate the oil from the sand.
		Canada's oil sands industry currently produces more than 18% of the nation's petroleum needs and has the potential to supply up to 50% of Canadian crude by 2007.
	www.hydrocarbons-technology.com /projects/athabasca (755 words)

	Econbrowser: Oil shale retort
		Three barrels of water are needed per barrel of oil produced, and it is not clear how current users of that water might be persuaded to surrender its use for oil shale.
		Posted by: John at September 28, 2005 01:28 AM Oil shales as a source of crude oil are are really an energy source of the past.
		In the meantime, while the oil is drained from foreign lands, we have and will continue to feel the pain when the occupants of those lands attempt to exert their influence over our way of life and our economy.
	www.econbrowser.com /archives/2005/09/oil_shale_retor.html (9841 words)

	Options exhausted, oil firms turn to tar \| EnergyBulletin.net \| Peak Oil News Clearinghouse
		The flow of oil extracted from Alberta's tar sands, also called oil sands, surpassed one million barrels a day at the end of 2003, and it is expected to double to two million barrels by 2010, matching the output of significant members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries like Libya and Indonesia.
		By next year, the sands are expected to account for half of Canada's crude oil output and about 10 percent of overall oil production in North America.
		Statisticians at the U.S. Department of Energy last year included oil sands in their estimates of Canada's oil reserves, raising them more than thirtyfold at a stroke, to 180 billion barrels from 4.9 billion.
	www.energybulletin.net /1894.html (858 words)

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