Oil sands, sometimes referred to as tar sands, is a mixture of sand, clay, other minerals, water, and bitumen. The bitumen is a form of crude oil that can be separated out from the mixture. In its natural state, it is very dense and highly viscous. In order to transport the oil sands, the natural bitumen is processed or diluted. The oil of the oil sands was formed from the marine organisms that fell to the bottom of the vast sea that once covered ancient Alberta. As the Earth itself shifted and re-formed, that oil. migrated north where it became trapped in the huge amounts of quartz sand left behind by the rivers that once drained into the ancient sea. Within these Oil sands, crude bitumen, or more technically bituminous sands, are a type of unconventional petroleum deposit. Oil sands are either loose sands or partially consolidated sandstone containing a naturally occurring mixture of sand, clay, and water, soaked with a dense and extremely viscous form of petroleum technically referred to as bitumen. Oil Sands Mining Uses Up Almost as Much Energy as It Produces Thanks to high global oil prices, industry can afford the large amount of energy needed to extract the oil and turn it into a usable fuel. Even the oil sands ultimate consumption in a gasoline, diesel or jet engine only results in 500 kilograms of CO2-equivalent per barrel of refined petroleum products, meaning total oil sands
27 Nov 2018 EARLIER THIS month the head of one of Canada's largest oil companies Canadian Select, the benchmark price for heavy crude from Alberta's oil sands. because it is more difficult to refine and must be transported longer Refinery to heavy oil from the Canadian tar sands.1 It tried to import this tar sands oil by train to the refinery's Santa Maria plant, which sends semi-refined oil by 2 Jan 2020 With all the talk of pipeline capacity, why don't companies just build a gasoline refinery near the Alberta oilsands? It's not that simple. 18 Dec 2013 Extracting bitumen from tar sands—and refining it into products like gasoline—is significantly costlier and more difficult than extracting and
The tar sands (also known as oil sands) is the largest industrial project on earth, yet few people are aware of the rapid pace of growth and its impact on our environment, economy, and society. Facts about these impacts are available at Oil Sands Reality Check. Refining Tar Sands Running Time: 7 minutes Although the energy industry is a cornerstone of Alberta's economy, many people don't understand how our oil sands projects operate. This corporate video and animation
1 asphalt refinery 2 lubricants plant 3 purchased from chevron in q3/2017 4 excludes clarkson lubes refinery 5 purchased from husky in nov 2019 6 heavy oil splitter, producing specialty market refined products: sources: capp • 2019 capp crude oil forecast, markets & transportation capp • 2017 statistical handbook The cost to produce oil in the oil sands is made up of the upfront capital cost required to first construct a facility, the cost to operate a facility once it is online, and the periodic cost to sustain production by replacing worn out equipment or parts or, in case of in situ projects to drill new wells pairs over time.
Mining and refining the oil sands is an expensive process, but with the rise in the price per barrel of oil, it has become profitable?very profitable indeed.