The Athabasca oil sand (or tar sands ) is a very large deposit of bitumen or heavy crude oil, located in northeastern Alberta, Canada - roughly centered in Fort McMurray boomtown. This oil sand, which is housed primarily in McMurray Formation, consists of a mixture of raw asphalt (semi-solid form like crude oil stone), silica sand, clay minerals, and water. The Athabasca deposit is the largest known bitumen reserve of crude oil in the world and the largest of the three major oil sands deposits in Alberta, along with the closest Peace River and Cold Cold River deposits (the latter extending to Saskatchewan).
Together, these oil sands deposits are under 141,000 square kilometers (54,000 sq./thi) of boreal forests and muskeg (peat swamps) and contain about 1.7 trillion barrels (270 ÃÆ'â € 10 9 m 3 ), or about 10% of this deposit. This contributes to Canada's total proven reserves that became the third largest in the world, after Saudi Arabia and the Venezuelan Orinoco Belt.
In 2009, two extraction methods used were in situ extraction, when bitumen occurred deeper in the soil, (which would be responsible for 80 percent oil sands development) and surface or open pit mining, when asphalt closer to the surface. Only 20 percent of the asphalt can be extracted using open-pit mining methods, involving large-scale excavation of land with large hydraulic shovels and heavy truckloads of 400 tons. Surface mining leaves a toxic tailings pool. Instead, in situ uses more specialized techniques such as steam-assisted gravity drainage (SAGD). "Eighty percent of the oil sands will be developed in situ which accounts for 97.5 percent of the total surface area of ​​oil sands in Alberta." In 2006, the Athabasca deposit was the only major oil reservoir in the world suitable for large-scale surface mining, although most of these reservoirs could only be produced using more recently developed in-situ technologies.
Critics argue that government and industry actions taken to reduce environmental and health risks posed by large-scale mining operations are inadequate, causing unacceptable damage to the natural environment and human well-being. Objective discussion of environmental impacts is often obscured by polarized arguments from industries and from advocacy groups.
Video Athabasca oil sands
Histori
The Athabasca oil sands are named after the Athabasca River that cuts the heart of the deposit, and heavy oil traces are readily observed on the banks of the river. Historically, bitumen was used by indigenous Cree and Aboriginal Dene to protect their canoes. The oil deposit is located within the boundary of Treaty 8, and some First Countries in the region are involved with the sand.
Initial history
The Athabasca oil sands first became the concern of European fur traders in 1719 when Wa-pa-su, a Cree merchant, brought asphalt sand samples to the Hudson Bay Company post at the York Factory in Hudson Bay where Henry Kelsey was the manager. In 1778, Peter Pond, another feather trader and founder of a competing Northwest Company, became the first European to see the Athabasca sediments after exploring Portage Methye allowing access to the rich feather resources of the Athabasca River system from the Hudson Bay water boundary.
In 1788, the feather merchant Alexander Mackenzie, after which the Mackenzie River was later named, traveled along the route to the Arctic and Pacific Oceans wrote: "Approximately 24 miles [39 km] from the fork (Athabasca and Clearwater Rivers) are some bitumen fountains where a 20-foot pole [6.1 m] can be inserted without the smallest resistance, the asphalt is in a liquid state and when mixed with chewing gum, the resin substance collected from the pine fir, it serves to make the gums of the Indian canoes. " He was followed in 1799 by mapmaker David Thompson and in 1819 by British naval officer John Franklin.
John Richardson conducted his first serious scientific assessment of oil sands in 1848 on his way north to search for Franklin's lost expedition. The first government sponsored oil sands survey began in 1875 by John Macoun, and in 1883, G. C. Hoffman of the Canadian Geological Survey tried to separate the asphalt from the oil sands by using water and reported that it was separated easily. In 1888, Robert Bell, director of the Canadian Geological Survey, reported to the Senate Committee that "Evidence... shows existence in Athabasca and Mackenzie valleys from the most extensive oil field in America, if not the world."
Count Alfred von Hammerstein (1870-1941), who arrived in the region in 1897, promoted the Athabaska oil sands for over forty years, took photos with descriptive titles such as "Tar Sands and Flowing Asphaltum in the Athabasca District," which is now at the National Library and National Archives of Canada. Athabasca's oil sands photos are also featured in Canadian writers and adventurers, bestsellers from Agnes Deans Cameron (Cameron, 1908 & amp; 71) entitled New North: Being Multiple Accounts from Women's Journey through Canada to the Arctic who recounts his 10,000 mile (16,000 km) return trip to the Arctic Ocean. After this trip and the publication of his book, he traveled extensively as a lecturer, with magic lantern slides from his Kodak image, promoting immigration to western Canada at Oxford, Cambridge, St. University. Andrew, and Royal Geographical Society. The photographs are reproduced in 2011-2012 in an exhibition at the Canadian Museum of Civilization in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. (Gismondi, 2012 & amp; 71) Cameron is enthusiastic about the Athabaska region and the Athabaska oil sands which include photos of Count Alfred Von Hammerstein oil drilling along the Athabasca River. "While the Count has not managed to drill the" elephant pool of oil, "Cameron's book and the picture... make it a media celebrity." (Gismondi, 2012 & amp; 71) "In all of Canada there is no stretch of waterway that is more interesting than the one we are entering in. A movement of the earth here has created a clearly visible fault line for seventy or eighty miles along the river bank , where the oil seeps at frequent intervals. [...] Tar is there... in many... It seeps from every crevice, and into asphalt asphalt also we can pierce the twenty-foot pole and find no resistance. 1909, Cameron & 71) are quoted in (Gismondi, 2012 & amp; 71)
In 1926, Karl Clark of the University of Alberta received a patent for the process of splitting hot water which is the forerunner of the current thermal extraction process. Some attempts to apply it have varying degrees of success.
A pioneer in the discovery and use of natural gas is Georg Naumann. He used natural gas as early as about 1940.
Project Oilsand
The Oilsand Project, also known as Project Oilsands, is a 1958 proposal to exploit the Athabasca oil sands by underground explosion of nuclear explosives; hypothetically, the heat and pressure created by underground detonation will boil the bituminous deposits, reducing their viscosity to the point that standard oilfield techniques can be used. The general way used by the plan is discussed in the October 1976 edition of the Atomic Science Bulletin. Patents are granted for the intended process: The Process to Stimulate Petroliferous Underground Formations by Bron, Knutson, and Coffer Contained Nuclear Explosion, first delivered in 1964. With the nuclear heating option considered a pioneer for some the conventional newborn heating idea that is currently recommended and used extracting oil from the Alberta region of Athabasca oil sand.
The proposal, originally known as the "Cauldron Project", was designed by geologist Manley L. Natland at Los Angeles-based Richfield Oil Corporation. Natland believes that underground explosions are the most efficient way to generate the heat needed to melt the thickened asphalt so it can be pumped to the surface by conventional wells. The project is conceived as part of Operation Plowshare, a US project to utilize nuclear explosions for peaceful applications. However, some experts have doubts. In 1959, oil pioneer Robert Fitzsimmons of the International Bitumen Company wrote a letter to the Edmonton Journal, saying "Although the author does not know anything about nuclear energy and therefore is not qualified to make a definite statement about it [sic] results which he knows about the effects of dry heat on the sand and suggests that if it does not change the entire deposit into a burning fire, it almost certainly blends into a semi solid mass of glass or a coke. "
In April 1959, the Federal Mining Department approved the Oilsand Project. However, before the project can continue beyond the initial steps, the Canadian government's position on the use of nuclear devices is changing. In April 1962, Canadian Foreign Minister for Foreign Affairs said "Canada is against nuclear testing, period". This 1962 change in Canadian public opinion was considered by historian Michael Payne because of a change in public perception of nuclear explosives after the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, the Oilsand Project was subsequently canceled. Prime Minister John Diefenbaker told Parliament that the decision to detonate an atomic bomb on or under Canadian land would be made by Canada, not the United States, and ordered the Cauldron/Oilsand Project to be placed on a permanent base, citing the risk of disrupting the Soviet Union during nuclear disarmament negotiations conducted in Geneva.
The United States Government went on to explore peaceful use of nuclear detonation with Operation Plowshare, but it was finally discontinued in 1977. While social scientist Benjamin Sovacool argued that the main problem was that the oil and gas produced were radioactive, causing consumers to reject it. In contrast, oil and gas are sometimes quite naturally radioactive to start and the industry is set to deal with this, much less in contrast to previous stimulation efforts, contamination from many later then test- the test was not a matter of performance, it mainly changed public opinion due to people's fears caused by events such as the Cuban Missile Crisis, resulting in protests, court cases and public hostilities that ended US exploration. Furthermore, over time without further development and closure/restriction at US nuclear weapons factories, it began to evaporate the advantages of economies of scale that had previously existed, with it being increasingly found that most of the US fields could be stimulated by non-nuclear techniques found to tend to be cheaper. The most successful and lucrative nuclear stimulative effort that did not result in product contamination problems was the 1976 Neva Project in the Sredne-Botuobinsk gas field in the Soviet Union, made possible by some of the cleaner stimulative stimulants, favorable rock layers and the possibility of creating a contaminant storage cavity underground.
Superb Canadian Oil Sands
Oil sand, which usually has a thickness of 40 to 60 meters (130 to 200 feet) and is above relatively flat limestone, is relatively easily accessible. They are under 1 to 3 m (3 ft 3 in to 9 ft 10 in) from submerged muskeg, 0 to 75 meters (0 to 246 ft) of clay and barren sand. As a result of easy accessibility, the world's first oil-sand mine is in the Athabasca oil sands.
The commercial production of oil from the Athabasca oil sands began in 1967, with the opening of the Great Canadian Oil Sands (GCOS) plant at Fort McMurray. It is the first operational oil sands project in the world, owned and operated by the parent company of America, Sun Oil Company. When the US $ 240 million plant officially opened with a capacity of 45,000 barrels per day (7,200 m 3 /d), it marked the commencement of the commercial development of Athabasca oil sands. In 2013 McKenzie-Brown enrolled industrialist J. Howard Pew as one of the six visionaries who built the Athabasca oil sands. At the time of his death in 1971, the Pew family was ranked by Forbes magazine as one of the half-dozen richest families in America. The Great Canadian Oil Sands Limited (then a subsidiary of Sun Oil Company but now incorporated into an independent company known as Suncor Energy Inc.) produced 30,000 barrels per day (4,800m 3 /d) from synthetic crude oil.
In 1979, Sun formed Suncor by combining its Canadian refining and retailing interests with Great Canadian Oil Sands and its conventional oil and gas interests. In 1981, the Government of Ontario purchased a 25% stake in the company but divested it in 1993. In 1995, Sun Oil also relinquished its holdings in the company, although Suncor retained the Sunoco retail brand in Canada. Suncor utilizes these two divestments to become an independent, widely-held public company.
Suncor continued to grow and continued to produce more oil from its oil sands operations regardless of fluctuating market prices, and eventually became larger than its previous parent company. In 2009, Suncor acquired the state-owned Canadian oil company, Petro-Canada, which turned Suncor into Canada's largest oil company and one of Canada's largest companies. Suncor Energy is now a Canadian company wholly unaffiliated with its parent company in America. Sun Oil Company is known as Sunoco, but later abandoned its oil production and refining business, and has since become a retail gas distributor owned by Energy Transfer Partners of Dallas, Texas. In Canada, Suncor Energy converts all Sunoco stations (all in Ontario) to the Petro-Canada website to unify all of its downstream retail operations under the Petro-Canada flag and halt the payment of license fees for the Sunoco brand. Across the country, suppliers of Petro-Canada's upstream products and its parent company are Suncor Energy. Suncor Energy continues to operate only one Sunoco retail site in Ontario.
Maps Athabasca oil sands
Syncrude
The true size of the Canadian oil sands deposit was known in the 1970s. The Syncrude Mine was opened in 1978 and is now the largest mine (by area) in the world, with a potential mine of 140,000 km 2 (54,000 sqÃ, mi). (Although there is an underlying oil of 142,200 km 2 (54,900 sq mi), which may be disturbed by in situ drilling and extraction, only 4,800 km 2 (1,900 sqa, mi) can be potentially mined on the surface, and 904 km 2 (349 sqÃ, mi) to date have been mined.)
oil crisis 1973
Development was hampered by falling world oil prices, and the second mine, operated by the Syncrude consortium, did not start operating until 1978, after the 1973 oil crisis sparked investor interest.
energy crisis 1979
But oil prices eased thereafter and despite the 1979 energy crisis caused oil prices to peak again, during the 1980s, oil prices dropped to extremely low levels causing substantial savings in the oil industry.
Oil sand production in the 21st century
At the turn of the 21st century, the development of oil sands in Canada began to take off, with expansions at the Suncor mine, a new mine and expansion at Syncrude, and a new mine by Royal Dutch Shell associated with their new Scotford Upgrader near Edmonton. Three new steam assisted steam drainage projects (SAGDs) were added - Foster Creek, Surmont, and MacKay River - by companies, all of which have been purchased by large corporations.
Shell Canada's third mine began operations in 2003. However, as a result of rising oil prices since 2003, existing mines have been greatly expanded and new ones are being planned.
According to Alberta Energy and Utilities Board, the 2005 production of crude asphalt in Athabasca oil sands is as follows:
In 2006, the production of oil sands has increased to 1,126,000 barrels per day (179,000 m 3 /d). Oil Sand is the source of 62% of Alberta's total oil production and 47% of all oil produced in Canada. In 2010, the production of oil sands has increased to more than 1.6 million barrels per day (250,000 m 3 /d), where 53% of this is produced by surface mining and 47% in-situ. The Alberta government believes this production rate could reach 3.5 Mbbl/d (560,000 m 3 /d) by 2020 and possibly 5 Mbbl/d (790,000 m 3 /d ) by 2030.
In 2012, actual oil production from oil sands is 1.8 million barrels per day (290,000 m 3 /d).
Transportation
Canada is the largest oil source imported by the United States, supplying nearly 1 million barrels per day (160,000 m 3 /d) from oil sands sources. Keystone XL, the pipeline from Alberta to the Gulf Coast refinery, is under consideration, such as the North Gateway project for Kitimat, British Columbia, to be built by Enbridge, operator of the Enbridge Pipeline System that also serves the area. Industry watchers believe there may be an overpass capacity of the pipeline. Kinder Morgan has made another proposal for the west coast pipeline while Enbridge also proposes East Access, a pipeline for a refinery in Montreal and possibly to a terminal in Portland, Maine, and an expansion of an existing pipe to Chicago. The First Environmental and Nation Dispute of all these projects is anticipated, and planned.
Future production
In December 2008, the Canadian Oil Producers Association revised its 2008-2020 crude oil forecasts to account for project cancellations and reductions as a result of falling prices in the second half of 2008. The revised outlook predicts that Canadian oil sands production will continue to grow, but to a greater extent slower than previously thought. There will be minimal changes in 2008-2012 production, but by 2020 production could be 300,000 barrels per day (48,000 m 3 /d) less than previous predictions. This means that Canadian oil sands production will grow from 1.2 million barrels per day (190,000 m 3 /d) in 2008 to 3.3 million barrels per day (520,000 m 3 /d) by 2020, and Canada's total oil production will grow from 2.7 to 4.1 million barrels per day (430,000 to 650,000 m 3 /d) by 2020. Even taking into account the cancellation of the project, this will put Canada among the four or five of the world's largest oil-producing countries by 2020.
In early December 2007, London-based BP and Calgary-based company Husky Energy announced a 50-50 joint venture to produce and refine asphalt from the Athabasca oil sands. BP will donate a Toledo, Ohio refinery for a joint venture, while Husky will donate his Sunrise sand sands project. Sunrise is planned to start producing 60,000 barrels per day (9,500 m 3 /d) asphalt in 2012 and can reach 200,000 bbl/d (32,000 m 3 /d) by 2015 -2020. BP will modify the Toledo refinery to process 170,000 bbl/d (27,000 m 3 /d) asphalt directly to the processed product. The joint venture will solve the problem for both companies, because Husky lacks refining capacity, and BP does not exist in the oil sands. It was a change of strategy for BP, because the company has historically understated the importance of oil sands.
In mid-December 2007, ConocoPhillips announced its intention to increase its oil sand production from 60,000 barrels per day (9,500 m 3 /d) to 1 million barrels per day (160,000 m 3 /d) over the next 20 years, which will make it the largest private oil producer in the world. ConocoPhillips currently holds the largest position in Canadian oil sands with over 1 million acres (4,000 km 2 ) under lease. Other major sand oil producers who plan to increase their production include Royal Dutch Shell (to 770,000 bbl/d (122,000 m 3 /d)); Syncrude Canada (to 550,000 bbl/d (87,000 m 3 /d)); Suncor Energy (up to 500,000 bbl/d (79,000 m 3 /d)) and Canadian Natural Resources (up to 500,000 bbl/d (79,000 m 3 /d)). If all of these plans are to fruition, these five companies will produce more than 3.3 Mbbl/d (520,000 m 3 /d) oil from oil sands by 2028.
Government
The governance of Alberta's oil sands is focused on economic development, and has historically been dominated by the interests of two main actors; government (federal and provincial) and industry. Canadian Federalism forms the function and role of every level of government, in which constitutional power is divided so that no one is superior to the other. The Constitution Act, 1867, Section 109 ensures the province's full ownership of land and resources within its borders. Provinces act as landowners and the federal government oversees jurisdiction over trade, commerce and taxation. There is a clear overlap, because resource management affects trade, and trade management affects resources. In the 1990s, federal and provincial governments have been aligned, focusing on regulation, technology and development of new export markets. The majority of "lower-level" governance is carried out by a number of provincial institutions.
Ottawa has avoided direct investment, preferring to improve the investment climate. A prime example of this occurred in 1994, when the federal government issued tax breaks allowing 100% investment in oil sand capital to be eliminated as an accelerated capital expense. Provincial governments have a more direct role in development; invest directly in pilot projects, conduct joint ventures with industry and consistently invest heavily in research and development. Some people claim that Alberta has one of the lowest royalty rates in the world. Since Alberta, unlike the US states, owns most of the oil beneath its surface, the country can control it more, while the US states are limited to severance taxes. This industrial-centric royalty system has been criticized for "promoting an unbridled pace of development".
Industry is the core strength of oil sands development. The first major player, Suncor Energy and Syncrude, dominated the market until the 1990s. There are currently 64 companies operating several hundred projects. The majority of production now comes from foreign companies, and the favorable climate for these companies gives them a powerful influence; much stronger than non-productive stakeholders, such as citizens and environmental groups.
Governance (policy, administration, regulation) on oil sands is almost entirely owned by the Ministry of Energy (Alberta) and its various departments. Critics noted the lack of clear and systemic public involvement at all key stages of the governance process. In response to this, the province started the Multi-Party Energy Sources Consultation Committee (MSC) in 2006. The MSC represents four organizations: the Cumulative Environmental Management Association (CEMA), the Buffalo Environmental Association (WBEA), the Canadian Oil Sand Network for Research and Development (CONRAD) and Working Group of Athabasca Region Problems (RIWG). The MSC's role is to consult and make recommendations on management principles. The recommendations contained in the first MSC 2007 Final Report were praised by several ministers and government representatives, but none have been effectively passed into law.
On October 17, 2012, the Alberta government announced it would follow the recommendations of the working group to develop an agency that would monitor the environmental impact of oil sands. "The new science-based agencies will start working in the oil sands area and will focus on what is being monitored, how it is monitored and where it is monitoring.This will include integrated and coordinated monitoring of land, air, water and biodiversity," said a press release from the office of Diana McQueen, Minister of Energy and Sustainable Development. The provincial government is moving to develop the agency after widespread public criticism by environmentalists, groups and aboriginal scientists, who claim that oil sands will have long-term damaging effects on the environment if left unchecked.
On June 17, 2013, the newly formed company, Alberta Energy Regulator (AER) is gradually mandated to regulate the development of oil, gas and coal in Alberta including the Athabasca oil sands. The AER united "the regulatory function of the Energy Resources Conservation Council and the Alberta Ministry of the Environment and Sustainable Resources Development into a one-stop shop." The Alberta Energy Regulator is now "responsible for all projects from application to reclamation." They will respond to project proponents, landowners and energy regulatory related industries in Alberta. The Responsible Energy Development Act gives Alberta Energy Regulator "the authority to administer the Public Land Law, Environmental Protection and Enforcement Act and Water Law, relating to energy development." The Alberta Energy Regulator will enforce environmental legislation and issue environmental and water permits, prior Alberta Environmental mandate responsibilities.
Development
The main characteristic of the Athabasca deposit is that it is the only one that is superficial enough to fit for surface mining. About 10% of the Athabasca oil sands are covered by less than 75 meters (246Ã, ft) overburden. Until 2009, the surface of a mined area (SMA) was defined by the ERCB, an agency of the Alberta government, to cover 37 adjacent cities (about 3,400 km 2 or 1,300Ã, sqÃ, mi) in the north Fort McMurray. In June 2009, the SMA expanded to 2 cities, or about 4,700 km 2 or 1,800Ã, sqÃ, mi. This expansion pushes the northern border of the SMA into 12 miles (19 km) from Wood Buffalo National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
The Albian Sands Mine (operated by Shell Canada) opened in 2003. The three mines are linked to asphalt processors that convert unused bitumen into synthetic crude for delivery to refineries in Canada and the United States. For Albian, the upgrader is located in Scotford, 439 km south. Bitumen, diluted with a solvent, is transferred there in a 610 mm (24 in) corridor channel.
The Energy Resources Conservation Council has approved more than 100 mining and in-situ projects despite negative environmental impacts. In 2012, there are nine active open mining projects, more than 50 approved in-situ projects and 190 major recovery projects extracting free-flowing bitumen. ERCB has also approved 20 projects that test unproven technologies as well as new versions of existing technologies.
Bitumen extraction
Surface mining
Since Great Canadian Oil Sands (now Suncor) started its mine operations in 1967, bitumen has been extracted on a commercial scale from Athabasca Oil Sands by surface mining. In the Athabasca sands, there are numerous asphalt covered by excess soil layers, making surface mining the most efficient method of extraction. Overburden consists of muskeg containing water (peat peat) on clay and barren sand. The oil sand itself usually has a depth of 40 to 60 meters (130 to 200 feet), sitting on a flat limestone. Initially, sand was mined with draglines and bucket-wheel excavators and transferred to processing plants with conveyor belts.
This initial mine has a sharp learning curve to deal with before their bitumen mining techniques become efficient. In subsequent years, more effective in-situ production techniques were developed, particularly steam assisted gravity drainage (SAGD). In-situ methods are becoming increasingly important as only about 20% of Athabasca oil sands are superficial enough to be recovered by surface mining, and the SAGD method is particularly efficient in recovering large amounts of asphalt at reasonable cost.
In recent years, companies like Syncrude and Suncor have switched to much cheaper shovel-and-truck operations using the largest power shovel (at least 100 short tons, 91 Â °) and dump trucks (400 short tons, 360 Â °) in the world. This has kept production costs at roughly US $ 27 per barrel of synthetic crude despite increased energy and labor costs.
After excavation, hot water and caustic soda (sodium hydroxide) are added to the sand, and the resulting slurry is supplied to the extraction plant where it is restless and oil skimmed from above. Provided that the water chemistry is appropriate to allow the asphalt to separate from the sand and clay, the combination of hot water and agitation releases the asphalt from the oil sands, and allows small air bubbles to adhere to the asphalt granules. Mossy asphalt floats to the top of the separation vessel, and is further processed to remove residual water and fine solids.
About two short tons (1.8 Â °) of oil sands are required to produce one barrel ( 1 / 8 short ton, 110 kg) of oil. Initially, about 75% of the asphalt was found from the sand. However, the latest improvements to this method include the Oil Recovery Tailings (TOR) unit that restores oil from the tailings, the Diluent Recovery Unit to recover the naphtha from the foam, plate skew settlers (IPS) and centrifugal discs. This allows the extraction plant to recover more than 90% asphalt in the sand. After oil extraction, the remaining sand and other materials were then returned to the mine, which was eventually reclaimed.
Taciuk Processing Technology Alberta extracts asphalt from oil sands through dry retortion. During this process, the oil sands are moved through a rotating drum, breaking the asphalt with heat and producing a lighter hydrocarbon. Although already tested, this technology has not been used commercially.
The original process for the extraction of bitumen from the sand was developed by Dr. Karl Clark, working with the Alberta Research Council in the 1920s. Today, all manufacturers do surface mining, such as Syncrude Canada, Suncor Energy and Albian Sands Energy, etc., using a variation of the Clark Hot Water Extraction (CHWE) process. In this process, the ore is mined using open pit technology. The mined ore is then destroyed for size reduction. Hot water at 50-80 ° C (122-176 ° F) is added to the ore and the formed slurry is transported via a hydrotransport line to the main separation vessel (PSV) where the asphalt is recovered by flotation as a bitumen foam. Recovered bitumen foam comprises 60% asphalt, 30% water and 10% solids based on weight.
The recovered asphalt cracks need to be cleaned to reject the solids and water contained to meet the downstream process requirements. Depending on the bitumen content in the ore, between 90 and 100% of the asphalt can be recovered using modern hot water extraction techniques. After oil extraction, the remaining sand and other materials were then returned to the mine, which was eventually reclaimed.
Steam-assisted gravity drainage
Steam Assisted Gravity Drainage (SAGD) is an improved oil recovery technology for producing heavy crude oil and bitumen. This is an advanced form of steam stimulation in which a pair of horizontal wells are drilled into an oil reservoir, a few meters above the other. High vapor pressure is continuously injected into the top borehole to heat the oil and reduce its viscosity, causing the heated oil to flow to the lower wellbore, where it is pumped out into the asphalt recovery facility. Dr. Roger Butler, engineer at Imperial Oil from 1955 to 1982, created a steam-assisted gravity drainage (SAGD) in the 1970s. Butler "developed the concept of using horizontal pairs of wells and injecting steam to develop certain bitumen deposits that are considered too deep for mining."
Recently, in situ methods such as steam-assisted gravity-drainage (SAGD) and cyclic steam stimulation (CSS) have been developed to extract asphalt from deep sediment by injecting steam to heat sand and reducing viscosity asphalt so it can be pumped out like a conventional crude oil.
The standard extraction process requires large amounts of natural gas. In 2007, the oil sands industry used about 4% of Western Canada's Sediment gas production. By 2015, this can increase two and a half times.
According to the National Energy Board, it takes about 1,200 cubic feet (34 m 3 ) of natural gas to produce an asphalt barrel of in situ projects and about 700 cubic feet (20 m 3 ) for the integrated project. Since an oil equivalent barrel is about 6,000 cubic feet (170 m 3 ) gas, this is a huge advantage in energy. That being the case, it is very likely that the Alberta regulator will reduce natural gas exports to the United States to provide fuel for oil sands factories. Because gas reserves are depleted, however, oil processors will probably switch to asphalt gasification to produce their own fuel. In much the same way as bitumen can be converted into synthetic crude, it can also be converted into synthetic natural gas.
Environmental impact
Critics argue that government and industry actions taken to reduce environmental and health risks posed by large-scale mining operations are inadequate, causing unacceptable damage to the natural environment and human well-being. Objective discussion of environmental impacts is often obscured by polarized arguments from industries and from advocacy groups.
Landed
About 20% of Alberta's oil sands can be recovered through open pit mining, while 80% require in situ extraction technology (largely because of its depth). Open mining destroys boreal and muskeg forests, while in situ extraction technology causes less significant damage. About 0.19% of Alberta's boreal forests have been plagued by open pit mining. The Alberta government requires companies to return land to "equal land capacity". This means that the land's ability to support various land uses after reclamation is similar to what exists, but individual land use is not necessarily identical.
In some circumstances, the government considers agricultural land equivalent to forest land. Sand oil companies have reclaimed mined fields for use as pasture for bison wood rather than returning them to boreal forests and indigenous muskegs. Syncrude asserts that they have reclaimed 22% of their disturbed land, a figure disputed by other sources, which judges Syncrude to accurately reclaim only 0.2% of disturbed land.
Water
A Counsel Institute report states "To produce a cubic meter (m 3 ) [35Ã, cuÃ,f] synthetic crude oil (upgraded bitumen) in a mining operation requires about 2-4.5 m 3 [71-159Ã, Â ° C] water (net figure.) The approved oil sand mining operation now has permission to divert 359 million m 3 from the Athabasca River, or more than twice the volume of water needed to meet the needs of the Calgary Municipal Municipality. "This goes on to say"... the need for clean water to produce cubic meters of oil with in situ production may be as little as 0.2 m 3 [7.1 Ã, cuÃ, ft], depending on how much is recycled ".
The Athabasca River flows 1.231 kilometers (765 mi) from the Athabasca Glacier in central Alberta to Athabasca Lake on the north-east of Alberta. Fort McMurray's average downstream annual flow is 633 cubic meters per second (22,400 cuÃ, ft/s) with a daily average of 1,200 cubic meters per second.
The total water license allocation is approximately 1% of the Athabasca's annual average river flow, although actual withdrawals for all uses, in 2006, amounted to about 0.4%. In addition, the Alberta government imposes strict limits on how many oil-sands oil companies can be moved from the Athabasca River. According to the Water Management Framework for the Lower Athabasca River, during periods of low river water consumption the Athabasca River is limited to 1.3% of the annual average flow. The province of Alberta is also seeking a cooperation withdrawal agreement between oil sands operators.
Since the beginning of the development of oil sands, there have been some leaks to the Athabasca River that pollute with oil and tailings pool water. The close proximity of the tailings pool to the river drastically increases the likelihood of contamination due to groundwater leakage. In 1997, Suncor admitted that their tailings pool had leaked 1,600 cubic meters (57,000 cuÃ,ft) of toxic water into the river a day. This water contains naphthenic acid, metal traces such as mercury and other pollutants. The Athabasca River is the largest freshwater delta in the world but with Suncor and Syncrude leaking a tail pool the amount of polluted water will exceed 1 billion cubic meters by 2020.
Naturally occurring bitumen toxicity in Northern Alberta poses potential ecological and human health risks for northerners living in the area. The development of oil sands contributes to arsenic, cadmium, chromium, lead, mercury, nickel and other toxic metals at low concentration to rivers and streams of Athabasca.
Use of natural gas and greenhouse gases
Asphalt processing into synthetic crude requires energy, which is currently being generated by natural gas combustion. In 2007, oil sands used about 1 billion cubic feet (28,000,000 m 3 ) of natural gas per day, about 40% of Alberta's total use. Based on gas purchases, natural gas requirements were granted by the Canadian Energy Resource Institute of 2.14 GJ (2.04 thousand cu ft) per barrel for the cyclic steam stimulation project, 1.08 GJ (1.03 thousand cu ft) per barrel for the project SAGD, 0.55 GJ (0.52 thousand cu ft) per barrel for bitumen extraction in mining operations excluding an increase or 1.54 GJ (1.47 thousand cu ft) per barrel for extraction and increased mining operations.
A 2009 study by CERA estimates that production from Canadian oil sands emits "about 5 percent to 15 percent more carbon dioxide, above the" lifetime "analysis of fuel, than the average crude oil." The author and investigative journalist David Strahan said that the IEA figures show that carbon dioxide emissions from oil sands are 20% higher than the average emissions from oil, explaining the difference as the difference between upstream emissions and life cycle emissions. He went on to say that the US government report in 2005 suggested with today's conventional oil technology releasing 40 kg of carbon dioxide per barrel while non-conventional oil releases 80-115 kg of carbon dioxide. Alberta's energy showed lower carbon emissions with improved technology, delivering a 39% decrease in emissions per barrel between 1990 and 2008, but only a 29% reduction between 1990 and 2009.
Estimated growth in synthetic oil production in Alberta also threatens Canada's international commitment. In ratifying the Kyoto Protocol, Canada agreed to reduce, by 2012, greenhouse gas emissions by 6% in relation to 1990. In 2002, Canada's total greenhouse gas emissions have increased 24% since 1990. In 2010, oil sands accounted for 6.8% of Canada's total greenhouse gas emissions, and for 0.15% of global greenhouse gas emissions.
Rated as the eighth largest greenhouse gas producer in the world, Canada is a relatively large emitter considering its population and the loss of Kyoto targets. A major Canadian initiative called Integrated CO2 Network (ICO2N) promotes the development of large-scale fishing, transport and storage of carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) as a means of helping Canada to help meet climate change goals while supporting economic growth. ICO2N members represent a group of industry participants, many oil sand producers, providing a framework for carbon capture and storage development in Canada.
Animal
In Northern Alberta, oil development activities bring large numbers of people into fragile ecosystems. Historically, population numbers are very low for this region. Water is easily polluted as the surface reaches the surface in most muskeg areas. With the ever-increasing development and harvesting of resources, wildlife becomes the recipients of direct and indirect pollution impacts. Woodland Caribou are very sensitive to human activity, and are therefore driven away from the habitats they love during the year when their caloric needs are greatest and food is the rarest. The human effects on Caribou are exacerbated by road construction and habitat fragmentation that opens up the area to deer and wolves.
Wildlife living near the Athabasca River has been severely affected as pollutants enter the water system. A number of unknown birds die every year. Particularly visible and hard hit are migratory birds that stop to rest in the tailings pool. There have been reports of a large group of ducks landing in the tailing pond and soon to die afterwards. Data have been recorded since the 1970s about the number of birds found in tailings ponds.
There is also a huge impact on live fish and laying eggs in the area. When toxins accumulate in rivers due to oil sands, strange mutations, tumors, and species of fish defects begin to emerge. A study commissioned by health authorities in the region found that some toxins and carcinogens are known to increase. Aboriginal communities living around the river are becoming increasingly concerned about how the animals they eat and their drinking water are affected.
Although there is no connection between oil sands and health issues, Matt Price of Environmental Defense says the relationship makes sense. Defects in fish and high concentrations of toxic substances in animals have also been identified.
Tailings farm
The large volume of tailings is a by-product of asphalt extraction from oil sands and tailings management is one of the most difficult environmental challenges facing the oil sands industry. Tailings ponds are engineered dams and gill systems containing solvents used in separation processes and bituminous residues, salts and soluble organic compounds, fine mud and water. Concentrations of chemicals may be harmful to fish and oils on the surface that are harmful to birds. This sediment basin is meant temporarily. The main obstacle to monitoring the oil sands produced by waters is the lack of identification of individual compounds. By better understanding the complex nature of the mixture of compounds, including naphthenic acids, it is possible to monitor rivers for leachate and also to remove toxic components. The identification of individual acids for many years proved to be impossible but a breakthrough in 2011 in the analysis began to reveal what was in the tailings pool of oil sands. Ninety percent of the tailings water can be reused for oil extraction. In 2009 as the tailing pool continued to proliferate and the volume of liquid tailings increased, the Alberta Energy Resources Conservation Council issued Directive 074 to force oil companies to manage tailings based on new aggressive criteria. The Alberta government reported in 2013 that the tailings pool in Alberta oil sands covers an area of ​​approximately 77 square kilometers (30 m²). The Tailings Management Framework for Mineable Oil Sands is part of the Alberta Progressive Reclamation Strategy for oil sands to ensure tailings are reclaimed as quickly as possible.
Suncor invested $ 1.2 billion in their Tailings Reduction Operation (TROTM) method of treating adult fine tail (MFT) from tailings pool with chemical flocculants, anionic polyacrylamide, commonly used in water treatment plants to increase total organic content removal (TOC) , to speed up their drying into an easier problem recaptured. Adult tailings dredged from pond bottom in suspension are mixed with polymer flocculants and dispersed in shallow "beach" where the tailings will dry and dry under ambient conditions. Dry MFT can then be reclaimed in place or transferred to another location for final reclamation. Suncor hopes this will reduce the time for water reclaiming from tailings to weeks and not years, with recovered water recycled to an oil sands mill. Suncor claims the mature tailings process will reduce the tailings pool and shorten the time to recover the tailings pool from 40 years now to 7-10 years, with continuous land rehabilitation after 7 to 10 years behind mining operations. For the 2010-2012 reporting period, Suncor has a performance to capture a lower-than-expected fine of this technology. Syncrude uses old composite (CT) tailings technology to capture fines on the Mildred Lake project. Syncrude has a lower-than-expected fines-capture performance in 2011/2012 but exceeded expectations in 2010/2011. Shell uses dry atmospheric drying technology (AFD) combined "fluid tailings and flocculants and mixed deposits in sloping areas to allow water to flow and deposit to dry" and has a lower-than-expected fines-capture performance.
In 2010 Suncor has transformed their first tailing pond, Pond One, into Wunderw Lookout, the first deposition basin in oil sands. In 2007, the area was a 220-hectare toxic waste pool but a few years later there was land planted with black springs and vibrating aspen. Wunderw Lookout represents only one percent of the tailings pool in 2011 but Pond One was the first effluent pool in the oil sands industry in 1967 and used until 1997. In 2011 only 65 square kilometers were cleared and approximately one square kilometer was certified by Alberta. as an independent natural environment. Wunderw Lookout has not been certified. The Pond One closure operation began in 2007. A mature butterfly tail such as jello (MFT) is pumped and dredged out of the pond and transferred to another tailings pool for long-term storage and maintenance. MFT was later replaced with 30 million tons of clean sand and then a top soil layer that had been removed from the site in the 1960s. 1.2 million cubic meters (42 ÃÆ'â € 10 6 Ã , Cu ft) topsoil, up to a depth of 50 cm (1 ft 8 inches), placed on the sand in hummocks and swales. It was then grown with reclamation plants.
In March 2012, an oil company alliance called the Canadian Canadian Petroleum Alliance (COSIA) was launched with a mandate to share research and technology to mitigate the negative environmental impact of oil sands production focusing on tailings pools, greenhouse gases, water and land. Almost all water used to produce crude oil using steam production methods ends up in a tailings pool. Recent improvements to this method include Oil Recovery Tailings units (TORs) that recover oil from tailings, Diluent Recovery Units to recover naphtha from foam, Trigger Players (IPS) and centrifugal discs. This allows the extraction plant to recover more than 90% asphalt in the sand.
In January 2013, scientists from Queen's University published a report analyzing lake sediments in the Athabasca region over the past fifty years. They found that polycyclic levels of aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) have increased by 23-fold since the asphalt extraction began in the 1960s. Carcinogenic, mutagenic, and teratogenic PAH levels were substantially higher than guidelines for lake sediment set by the Canadian Council of Ministers of Environment in 1999. The team found that contamination spread further than previously thought.
The Pembina Institute suggests that large investments by many companies in the Canadian oil sands that lead to increased production produce excessive bitumen with no place to store them. He added that by 2022, wastewater production in one month can produce an 11-foot (3 m) toxic reservoir of Central Park in New York City [840.01 acres (339.94 ha) (3,399 km 2 )].
The oil sands industry can build a series of up to thirty lakes by pumping water into old pits when they have finished digging out toxic wastes in their butts and allowing biological processes to return them to health. It's cheaper to fill open pit mines with water instead of dirt. In 2012, the Cumulative Environmental Management Association (CEMA) describes End Pit Lakes (EPL) as
An engineered water body, located below the level in the post-mining sand hole. It may contain oil sands with product ingredients and will receive surface and groundwater from the reclamation landscape and undisturbed surrounding. EPL will be a permanent feature in the landscape of the final reclamation, drainage into the downstream environment.
CEMA recognizes that "the main concern is the potential of the EPL to develop a legacy of toxicity and thereby reduce the value of land use from future oil sands." Syncrude Canada is planning the first pit lakes in 2013 with the goal of "pumping fresh water over 40 meters of vertical mine waste that has been stored in what they call the 'bottom landing'." David Schindler argues that no final lakes should be approved until we "have assurances that they will eventually support healthy ecosystems." Until now there is no "evidence to support their survival, or 'model' results suggesting that the flow out of the lake would be non-toxic."
Network-processing pollution
See Long Lake's main article
In July 2015, one of the biggest leaks in Canadian history spilled 5,000 cubic meters of emulsion - about 5 million liters of asphalt, sand and wastewater - from the Nexen Energy pipeline at the Long Lake oil sand facility, south of Fort McMurray. Subsidiary of CNOOC Ltd. auto safety system China did not detect the pipe faults that caused the spill to cover an area of ​​about 16,000 square meters before manual inspection. Alberta Energy Regulator (AER) revealed the number of "incidents" of pipelines in Alberta increased 15% last year, despite well-publicized regulatory efforts to reduce ruptures and spills.
Health and safety
The explosion left one worker dead and another badly wounded at China's Nexen Energy facility in Long Lake oil sands near Anzac, south of Fort McMurray Two involved maintenance workers were found near natural gas compression equipment used for hydrocrackers, which turned heavy oil into oil light crude, at the factory's main processing facility, known as an upgrader.
Population
The Athabasca oil sands are located in the northeastern province of Alberta in Canada, near the town of Fort McMurray. This area has only a few populations, and by the end of the 1950s, it was primarily a desert post of several hundred people whose main economic activities included trap feathers and salt mining. From a population of 37,222 in 1996, boomtown Fort McMurray and the surrounding area (known as the Regional Municipality of Kerbau Buffalo) grew to 79,810 people in 2006, including the "shadow population" of 10,442 living in the labor camp, leaving the community struggling to provide services and housing for migrant workers, many of them from Eastern Canada, especially Newfoundland. Fort McMurray ceased to be a city founded in 1995 and is now an urban service area within Wood Buffalo.
Estimated oil reserves
The Council of Energy and Utilities of the Government (EUB) of Alberta estimated in 2007 that about 173 billion barrels (27.5 ÃÆ'â € 10
Only 3% of the initial raw asphalt reserves have been produced since commercial production began in 1967. At projected production levels for 2015, about 3 million barrels per day (480 ÃÆ'â € 10 3 m 3 /d), Athabasca's oil reserves will last more than 170 years. However, such production levels require the entry of workers to an area that until now is largely uninhabited. In 2007 this need in northern Alberta pushed the unemployment rate in adjacent Alberta and British Columbia to the lowest level in history. As far as the Atlantic Province, where workers go to work in Alberta, the unemployment rate dropped to levels not seen for over a hundred years.
The Orinoco Venezuelan Oil Minerals Site may contain more oil sands than Athabasca. However, while Orinoco sediments are less viscous and more easily produced using conventional techniques (the Venezuelan government prefers to call them "extra-heavy oils"), they are too deep to get in through surface mining.
Economy
Despite the large reserves, the cost of extracting oil from asphalt sand has historically made the production of oil sands unprofitable - the cost of selling extracted crude oil will not cover the cost of direct recovery; labor to mine sand and fuel to extract crude oil.
In mid-2006, the Canadian National Energy Council estimated the cost of new mining operations in the Athabasca sands of oil to C $ 9 to C $ 12 per barrel, while the in-situ SAGD operating costs (using multiple horizontal wells) would be C $ 10 to C $ 14 per barrel. This compares to the operating costs for conventional oil wells that can range from less than a dollar per barrel in Iraq and Saudi Arabia to more than six in the United States and conventional Canadian oil reserves.
The capital cost of equipment required to mine sand and transport it to processing is a major consideration in starting production. NEB estimates that the capital cost increases the total cost of production to C $ 18 to C $ 20 per barrel for new mining operations and C $ 18 to C $ 22 per barrel for SAGD operations. This does not include the cost of upgrading raw asphalt to synthetic crude, which makes the final cost of C $ 36 to C $ 40 per barrel for new mining operations.
Therefore, even though high crude oil prices make production costs very attractive, a sudden drop in prices makes producers unable to recover their capital costs - even though the companies are well financed and can tolerate long periods of low prices because the capital has been spent and they can usually cover additional operating costs.
However, the development of commercial production becomes easier because the cost of exploration is very low. These costs are a major factor when assessing the drilling economy in traditional oil fields. Oil storage locations in oil sands are well known, and recovery cost estimates can usually be made easily. There is no other region in the world with energy reserves with comparable magnitudes where it would be less likely that the installation would be seized by a hostile national government, or threatened by war or revolution.
As a result of rising oil prices since 2003, the oil sands economy has increased dramatically. With a world price of US $ 50 per barrel, NEB estimates that integrated mining operations will result in a 16 to 23% return, while SAGD operations will produce 16 to 27%. Prices since 2006 have risen, exceeding US $ 145 in mid-2008 but falling back to less than 40 US $ as a result of the worldwide financial crisis, oil prices recover slowly and many planned projects (estimated to exceed C $ 100 billion between 2006 and 2015) are discontinued or scheduled. In 2012 and 2013 oil prices returned high, but US production increased due to new technology, while gasoline demand declined, resulting in excess oil production. But economic recovery can change this in a few years.
Currently the area around Fort McMurray has seen the greatest impact of increased activity on the oil sands. Despite the abundant jobs, housing is in short supply and expensive. People looking for work often arrive in the area without arranging accommodation, raising the price of temporary accommodation. This area is isolated, with only a two-lane road, Alberta Highway 63, connecting it to the rest of the province, and there is pressure on the Alberta government to improve roads and hospitals and other infrastructure.
Despite the company's best efforts to move as many construction jobs outside the Fort McMurray area as possible, and even outside Alberta, a shortage of skilled workers spread throughout the province. Even without oil sands, the Alberta economy will be very strong, but the development of oil sands has resulted in the strongest period of economic growth ever recorded by the Canadian province.
The importance of geopolitics
The Athabasca oil sands are often a topic in international trade talks, with energy rivals China and the United States negotiating with Canada for a larger share of the rapidly increasing output. Production is expected to increase fourfold between 2005 and 2015, reaching 4 million barrels (640,000 m 3 ) a day, with increasing political and economic interest. Currently, most of the production of oil sands is exported to the United States.
The agreement has been signed between PetroChina and Enbridge to build 400,000 barrels per day (64,000 m 3 /d) pipeline from Edmonton, Alberta, to the west coast port of Kitimat, British Columbia. If built, the pipeline will help export synthetic crude oil from oil sands to China and elsewhere in the Pacific. However, in 2011, First Nations and environmental groups protested against the proposed pipeline, which stated that its construction and operation would damage the environment. First Nation groups also claim that the proposed pipeline development violates the commitments that the Canadian Government has made through various UN Agreements and Declarations on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Smaller pipes will also be built simultaneously by importing condensate to melt the asphalt. Sinopec, China's largest refiner and chemical company, and China National Pe
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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