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Tar sands is a common name of what are more properly called '''bituminous sands''', but also commonly referred to as '''oil sands''' or (in Venezuela) '''extra-heavy oil'''. They are a mixture of Sand or Clay , water, and extremely Heavy Crude Oil . The use of the word tar to describe these deposits is a misnomer, since Tar is a man-made substance produced by the destructive distillation of organic material. Although it appears similar, the material in tar sands is a naturally-occurring, extremely heavy form of Crude Oil in which the lighter fractions of the oil have been lost, and the remaining fractions have been partially biodegraded by bacteria. As a result, the term oil sands is technically more accurate. Conventional Crude Oil is easily extracted from the ground by drilling wells into the formations, into which light or medium density oil flows under natural reservoir pressures, but tar sand deposits must be Strip Mined or made to flow into producing wells by In Situ techniques which reduce the oils Viscosity using Steam and/or Solvent s. These processes use a great deal of water and require large amounts of energy. The Heavy Crude Oil or crude Bitumen extracted from these deposits is a Viscous , solid or semisolid form of oil that does not easily flow at normal Ambient temperatures and pressures, making it difficult and expensive to process into gasoline, diesel fuel, and other products. Despite the difficulty and cost, tar sands are now being mined on a vast scale to extract the oil, which is then converted into Synthetic Oil by oil upgraders, or refined directly into Petroleum Product s by specialized Refineries . Many countries in the world have large deposits of tar sands, including the and Venezuela , both of which have tar sands reserves approximately equal to the world's total reserves of conventional Crude Oil . As a result of the development of these reserves, most Canadian oil production in the 21st century is from tar sands or heavy oil deposits, and Canada is now the largest single supplier of oil and refined products to the United States. Venezuelan production is also very large, but due to political problems its oil production has been declining since the start of the 21st century. AS OIL SOURCE, BY LOCATION Tar sands, also known as oil sands, were used by the ancient Mesopotamians and Canadian First Nations , among others. Tar sand deposits are found in over 70 countries worldwide, but three quarters of the world's reserves are found in only two countries: Venezuela and Canada . They have only recently been considered to be part of the world's Oil Reserves , as higher oil prices and new technology enable them to be profitably extracted and upgraded to usable products. Tar sand is often referred to as Non-conventional Oil or crude bitumen, in order to distinguish the bitumen and synthetic oil extracted from tar sands from the free-flowing hydrocarbon mixtures known as Crude Oil traditionally produced from Oil Wells . See Bituminous Rocks . Tar sands may represent as much as 2/3 of the world's total petroleum resource, with at least 1.7 trillion barrels (270 km³) in the Canadian Athabasca Oil Sands and perhaps 1.8 trillion barrels (280 km³) in the Venezuelan Orinoco Tar Sands , compared to 1.75 trillion barrels (278 km³) of conventional oil worldwide, most of it in Saudi Arabia and other Middle-East ern countries. Between them, the Canadian and Venezuelan deposits contain about 3.6 trillion barrels (422 km³) of oil in place. This is only the remnant of vast petroleum deposits which once totaled as much as 18 trillion barrels (2,100 km³), most of which has escaped or been destroyed by bacteria over the eons. ''See also below notes about limits to production capacity.'' Canada See Also: Athabasca Oil Sands Canada is the largest supplier of oil to the U.S. Canada #1 U.S. Supplier as S&T Fuels Energy Sector , with over a million barrels per day coming from tar sands. Most of the tar sands of Canada are located in three major deposits in northern Alberta . The three deposits are the Athabasca-Wabiskaw Oil Sands of north northeastern Alberta, the Cold Lake deposits of east northeastern Alberta, and the Peace River deposits of northwestern Alberta. Between them they cover over 140,000 square kilometers (54,000 square miles), an area larger than Florida , and hold at least 175 billion barrels (175×109 bbl) or 28 billion cubic metres (28×109 m³) of recoverable crude bitumen, which amounts to three-quarters of North American petroleum reserves. In addition to the Alberta deposits, there are major tar sands deposits on Melville Island in the Canadian Arctic Islands but they are unlikely to see commercial production in the foreseable future. The Alberta 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. The largest bitumen deposit, containing about 80% of the total, and the only one suitable for Surface Mining is the Athabasca Oil Sands along the Athabasca River . The mineable area as defined by the Alberta government covers 37 contiguous townships (about 3400 square kilometres or ) north of the city of Fort McMurray . The smaller Cold Lake deposits are important because some of the oil is Fluid enough to be produced by conventional production methods. All three Alberta areas are suitable for production using In-situ methods such as cyclic steam stimulation (CSS) and Steam Assisted Gravity Drainage (SAGD). The Canadian tar sands have been in commercial production since the original Great Canadian Oil Sands (now Suncor ) mine began operation in 1967. A second mine, operated by the Syncrude consortium, began operation in 1978 and is the biggest mine of any type in the world. The third mine in the Athabasca Oil Sands , the Albian Sands consortium of Shell Canada , Chevron Corporation and Western Oil Sands Inc. began operation in 2003. Petro Canada is also developing its $33 billion Fort Hills Project, in partnership with UTS Energy Corporation and Teck Cominco . If approved in 2008, Fort Hills Oilsands upgraders are slated to begin output in 2012. With the development of new In-situ production techniques such as Steam Assisted Gravity Drainage , and with the Oil Price Increases Of 2004-2006 , there were several dozen companies planning nearly 100 tar sands mines and in-situ projects in Canada, totaling nearly $100 billion in capital investment. With 2007 crude oil prices significantly in excess of the current average cost of production for tar sands of $28 per barrel Oil sands costs up 55 percent - UPI , all of these projects appear likely to be profitable. However, tar sands production costs are rising rapidly, with production cost increases of 55% since 2005, due to shortages of labor and materials. Oil sands costs up 55 percent - UPI The minority Conservative government of Canada, pressured to do more on the environment, announced in its 2007 budget that it will phase out some tar sands tax incentives over coming years. The provision allowing accelerated write-off of tar sands investments will be phased out gradually so projects that had counted on them can proceed. Existing developments will get the allowance; for new projects the provision will be phased out between 2011 and 2015. Canada to end tar sands aid, add green-car rebates - Angola Press | ||||||||||||||||||
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| Title | Alberta’s Energy Reserves 2006 and Supply/Demand Outlook 2007-2015 |
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| Work | ST98-2007 |
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| Publisher | Alberta Energy and Utilities Board |
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| Date | June 2007 |
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| Url | http://wwweubca/docs/products/STs/st98_currentpdf |
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| Format | pdf |
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