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Oil Sands Backgrounder

Bitumen
Oil sand is basically oil mixed with sand. This oil, called bitumen, is thick and heavy and cannot be extracted by conventional means of oil wells. Oil sand is often referred to as “tar sand,” but this is an incorrect term. Tar is a man-made substance.


Oil Sands
Oil is separated from oil sands by two different methods depending on the location of the ore and transported south by pipeline. Both types of plants require a skilled workforce.


The two types of plants are:

  • Open-pit or surface mines
  • In-situ oil sands plants using SAGD



Open-pit mines using truck and shovel technology are developed on leases where Oil sands is near the surface. The mines and associated extraction and upgrading facilities require a skilled workforce for operations and maintenance.

In-situ (meaning in its original position) oil sands plants are developed in areas where the Oil sands deposits are too deep to be mined from an open-pit. SAGD (Steam Assisted Gravity Drainage) technology, pronounced "sag dee," is currently one of the methods used in the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo to separate bitumen from the sand underground or in-situ. Parallel horizontal well pairs are drilled. Steam is injected into the upper well to warm and soften the oil sands layer. The warmed bitumen and water drain downward, passing through fine slots in the lower well and is pumped to the surface, leaving the sand behind. The water is recycled and the bitumen shipped or upgraded to produce a marketable petroleum product. Visit the Oil Sands Discovery Centre website for information on other kinds of in-situ technology.


Athabasca Oil Sands deposit
The Athabasca deposit directly around Fort McMurray is the only deposit shallow enough to be surface mined in open-pit mines. Syncrude Canada, Suncor Energy, and Albian Sands are the three companies currently mining north of Fort McMurray.

About 80 per cent of the oil sands around Fort McMurray are too deep in the ground (more than 250 feet) to be recovered by surface mining, so in-situ processes are used.

Further information

For more information on the Athabasca Oil Sands or about getting a job working in the oil sands, view the December 2006 Labour Market News (Employment in the Oil Sands).

 

 
 
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