Canadian Oil Sands: The good, the bad and the uglyWhen you think of countries with vast oil reserves

Canadian Oil Sands: The good, the bad and the uglyWhen you think of countries with vast oil reserves, you may think of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Russia or the US. However, with the advent of unconventional oil and gas Venezuela and Canada should definitely be included on the list. With 169 billion barrels of crude in oil sands alone, Canada has some pretty impressive reserves; and they may just have a conscience to go with it.For those unfamiliar with the term ‘oil sands’ or ‘tar sands’ it refers to a mixture of sand, water, clay and bitumen that can be mined and refined to produce crude oil. At 11oC bitumen is fairly solid, with the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers comparing its hardness to that of a hockey puck (As a Brit I’m not entirely certain of how hard that is but I can assume it’s fairly solid).This presents a problem when it comes to extraction. Most oil is produced using wells that drill into the reservoir rock and the overlying pressure drives the hydrocarbon up the well and out at the surface. If you were to use conventional techniques on tar sands all you would get is a large dollop of disappointment and some intense questioning from your boss.THE UGLYSo how do you extract oil sands? The answer originally was strip mining. In a very similar manner to which coal is mined, oil sands up to 70m below the surface were exploited by simply digging down and hauling it out of the ground.To separate the solid oil from the sand, tailings ponds much like those used in mining were created. This produced large quantities of chemically laced water that could not be treated and therefore was left stewing in large open pits that cover up to 66 square miles (170 square kilometres) of former wetlands.THE BADEnvironmental concerns were raised from the off and peaked in 2011 when several American states passed laws to prevent the import and use of Albertan oil. It wasn’t just the open pit mining that people were concerned about. To reach deeper deposits companies were using wells to inject steam into the oil sands, heating the bitumen and allowing it to flow upward. While the impacts at the surface were lessened, this technique still used vast quantities of water and required the burning of natural gas to produce steam.THE GOODRecently changes have been made that may just have oil extraction moving in the right direction. From the start companies wishing to exploit the tar sands have been required by law to return any altered land back to its original condition. Furthermore, over 90% of production is now occurring from steam extraction meaning fewer and fewer open pit mines are cropping up at the surface. This also removes the need for toxic tailings ponds as the water used for steam injection can be recycled and reused.Companies are also developing ideas from microwaves to nuclear power in an effort to minimise water consumption. A forum has been set up for operators to share their knowledge and experience, meaning innovative new technologies are being developed at a far faster rate than ever before.Furthermore the Canadian government requires companies to publicly publish the greenhouse gas (GHGs) emissions associated with oil sand activities, allowing them to be regulated. Interestingly many of the tar sands operations produce less GHGs than conventional production in other countries. This is testament to the Canadian government’s attempts to limit environmental impacts while capitalising on its natural resources.By making information on oil extraction freely available, the Canadian government has allowed the public to scrutinise the oil companies driving them to become cleaner and more efficient in their practice. While low oil prices may lead to a slowing in tar sand extraction it’s comforting to know that the environment has not been forgotten in the perpetual search for affordable energy.WatsonImage Credit: SyncrudeReferences:http://econ.st/1uGOEP5http://bit.ly/1MrcQwzFurther Reading:http://econ.st/1MrcR3Ihttp://bit.ly/1zGN9XO -- source link

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