::Energy Ma Foi About Us ::

INTRODUCTION TO OIL SANDS

Oil Sands are sand, clay and rock materials that contain Bitumen. Bitumen is a heavy black viscous oil that is converted into an upgraded Crude Oil. The Oil sands look like a very rich, pliable kind of Topsoil.

Canada ranks second to Saudi Arabia in terms of Global ‘PROVEN’ crude reserves. The majority of these reserves in Canada are found in the Alberta Oil Sands.

Alberta's oil sands contain the biggest known reserve of oil in the world. An estimated 1.7 to 2.5 trillion barrels of oil are trapped in a complex mixture of sand, water and clay. The most prominent theory of how this vast resource was formed suggests that light crude oil from southern Alberta migrated north and east with the same pressures that formed the Rocky Mountains. Over time, the actions of water and bacteria transformed the light crude into bitumen, a much heavier, carbon rich, and extremely viscous oil. The percentage of bitumen in oil sand can range from 1% -20%. The oil saturated sand deposits left over from ancient rivers in three main areas, Peace River, Cold Lake and Athabasca. The Athabasca area is the largest and closest to the surface, accounting for the large-scale oil sands development around Fort McMurray.

The Oil sands are ‘Mined’ and not ‘Drilled’ for; they are sent to a plant where they are heated in a cell, that separates the oil from the sands. The Oil froth is then sent to an upgrader and eventually to a refinery. The crude obtained from Oil sands is of High quality. It takes about 2 tonnes of Oil Sands to produce a barrel of Oil.

Bitumen is about 10-12% of the Oil sands that are found in Alberta. The remainder 80-85% is mineral matter, including clay & sands. 4-6% is water.

Tar Sands (Oil Sands) are found in more than 70 countries. The two largest resources are in Canada and Venezuela.

Venezuela prefers to call its Tar sands ‘Extra Heavy Oil’. The Venezuelan deposits are less degraded than the Canadian deposits and are at a higher temperature. This means that they are easier to produce by conventional techniques.

China and India are both bidding for Canadian oil sand assets. India plans to invest $ 1 Billion

Alberta's oil sands are already the target of an estimated $100 billion of investments in new projects and expansions of those that are already producing. Current output is more than one million barrels a day, or about 40 percent of total Canadian crude production.
.
Canada's industry estimates production of tar-like bitumen and synthetic crude processed from the unconventional resources will nearly triple to 2.7 million barrels a day by 2015, as a host of projects start up.