Oil Sands
Oil sands, tar sands or, more technically, bituminous sands, are a type of unconventional petroleum deposit. The oil sands are loose sand or partially consolidated sandstone containing naturally occurring mixtures of sand, clay, and water, saturated with a dense and extremely viscous form of petroleum technically referred to as bitumen (or colloquially tar due to its similar appearance, odour and colour). Natural bitumen deposits are reported in many countries, but in particular are found in extremely large quantities in Canada. Other large reserves are located in Kazakhstan and Russia. Total natural bitumen reserves are estimated at 249.67 billion barrels (39.694×109 m3) globally, of which 176.8 billion barrels (28.11×109 m3), or 70.8%, are in Canada.
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Some articles on oil sands:
... energy research including preliminary coal and oil sands investigation ... Further progress was made on oil sands research in the 1940s with an extraction process patent issued to Dr ... Clark in 1948, laying the foundation for investment in oil sands development ...
... Since a barrel of oil equivalent is about 6.117 gigajoules (1,699 kWh), its EROEI is 5–6 ... Alternatives to natural gas exist and are available in the oil sands area ...
... processes crude bitumen (extra-heavy crude oil) from oil sands into a wide range of synthetic crude oils ... The upgrader is owned by Athabasca Oil Sands Project (AOSP), a joint venture of Shell Canada Energy (60%), Marathon Oil Sands L.P ...
... He then joined Imperial Oil Limited, an affiliate of Exxon Corporation, at the Esso Research Centre in Sarnia, Ontario ... In 1964, Imperial Oil selected him as one of the staff to test the process of bitumen separation on a variety of oil sands by taking the plant to the oil sands ... next six years, conducting studies on the molecular and interfacial properties of the oils sands and the mechanism of the Clark hot water separation ...
... Air Quality Council to oversee the regime Raising public awareness about oil sands development - Sierra Club Canada and Sierra Club Prairie have been at the forefront of campaigns to ... that greenhouse gas emissions are assessed in oil sands projects - Sierra Club Canada won a law suit in the Federal Court of Canada requiring that greenhouse gas ... Phase-out of a federal tax subsidy to oil sands companies, as well as growing support for a moratorium on new Alberta tar sands projects, which produce the dirtiest oil on the planet ...
Famous quotes containing the words sands and/or oil:
“Perchance the time will come when we shall not be content to go back and forth upon a raft to some huge Homeric or Shakespearean Indiaman that lies upon the reef, but build a bark out of that wreck and others that are buried in the sands of this desolate island, and such new timber as may be required, in which to sail away to whole new worlds of light and life, where our friends are.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“No skilled hands
caress a stranger’s flesh with lucid oil before
a word is spoken
no feasting
before a tale is told, before
the stranger tells his name.”
—Denise Levertov (b. 1923)