Twitter headlinesOil sands
[Due to the increasing size of the archives, each topic page now contains only the prior 365 days of content. Access to older stories is now solely through the Monthly Archive pages or the site search function.]
Canada and Alberta to Invest C$865M in Athabasca Oil Sands Carbon Capture and Storage Project
October 08, 2009
| Overview of the Quest CCS project. Click to enlarge. |
The provincial government of Alberta and the federal government of Canada will invest C$865 million (US$822 million) in a large-scale Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) project in the Athabasca oil sands. The province signed a Letter of Intent with Shell Canada Energy, on behalf of the Athabasca Oil Sands Project—a joint venture among Shell Canada (60%), Chevron Canada Limited (20%) and Marathon Oil Sands L.P. (20%)—to provide C$745 million in funding from its $2 billion CCS fund for the Quest CCS project over the next 15 years.
The Government of Canada is also contributing C$120 million toward this project through the Clean Energy Fund to help demonstrate CCS technology and advance Canada’s leadership on clean energy technologies while reducing greenhouse gas emissions from energy production.
More... | Comments (12) | TrackBack (0)
New Study Concludes Substantial Quantities of Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Land-Use Change in the Boreal Forests for Oil Sands Production Are Unreported
October 03, 2009
A new study released by Global Forest Watch Canada finds that significant amounts of greenhouse gases are emitted through the disturbance and/or removal of biocarbon (trees, shrubs, peats), which overlay Alberta’s oil sands. These land-use change emissions have not previously been measured nor reported by governments and industry. The resulting analyses, maps and report give further insights into the growing impacts of oil sands development on Alberta’s and Canada’s greenhouse gas emissions.
The total area of natural ecosystems that are planned to be removed by oil sands extraction is 1,613,887 ha (20 times the size of the City of Calgary). These areas store 579 megatonnes (million tones) of biological carbon, mostly in peatlands. When the carbon in soils, peat and trees breaks down, it combines with oxygen to form carbon dioxide (CO2). As a result, 873 megatonnes of CO2 may be emitted into the atmosphere over the next 100 years under the scenario of full oil sands development. The resulting annual average emissions of 8.7 megatonnes of CO2 will substantially raise the normally-reported emissions from the oils sands industry activities.
More... | Comments (11) | TrackBack (0)
Sustainable Development Canada Awards C$6M to Project to Reduce Water and Energy Consumption for Oil Sands Processing; Three Other Projects Supported to Reduce Energy and Environmental Impact of Oil Sands
September 11, 2009
| SOLVE adds a solvent to the steam in SAGD (basic operation depicted above) to reduce energy input and water consumption. Source: StatoilHydro. Click to enlarge. |
Sustainable Development Technology Canada (SDTC) has awarded C$6 million (US$5.6 million) to the Petroleum Technology Research Centre (PTRC) in Regina, Saskatchewan and StatoilHydro Canada for a project to reduce water use and carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions for in situ oil sands recovery by steam-assisted gravity drainage (SAGD).
SAGD is a thermal production method that pairs a horizontal injection well above a horizontal production well drilled along a parallel trajectory. Saturated steam is injected into the reservoir via the SAGD injection well. The steam rises and expands throughout the reservoir. heating the bitumen and reducing its viscosity to that it will flow under gravitational forces, along with the condensed steam, to the SAGD production well. The production well extracts the bitumen to surface heavy oil production facilities.
More... | Comments (7) | TrackBack (0)
US State Department Issues Permit for Alberta Clipper Pipeline for Oil Sands Crude Delivery to US
August 21, 2009
| The Alberta Clipper pipeline (red). Click to enlarge. |
The US State Department has issued a Presidential Permit to Enbridge Energy, Limited Partnership to enable construction of the Alberta Clipper pipeline for the transport of crude oil from the Canadian oil sands to US refineries. (Earlier post.)
The 1,000-mile/1,607-km pipeline will run from Hardisty, Alberta, Canada, to Superior, Wisconsin. Construction in the United States will consist of two components that would have independent utility: the Alberta Clipper Pipeline itself and the Southern Lights Diluent Pipeline. The 36-inch Alberta Clipper Pipeline will carry up to 450,000 barrels of oil sands crude per day—with ultimate capacity of up to 800,000 bpd available—from the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin in Canada to refineries in the US.
More... | Comments (11) | TrackBack (0)
Two Lifecycle Studies Find Greater Range in GHG Emissions from both Conventional and Oil Sands Derived Crude Than Previously Shown; Oils Sands Emissions Comparable to Conventional Oil Production in Some Cases
July 24, 2009
| A plot from the TIAX study of the ranges of well-to-wheel emissions for different types of crudes in different refinery areas in the US for gasoline production. The yellow bar is the range calculated for different conventional crudes. Click to enlarge. |
Two new lifecycle studies have found that direct greenhouse emissions from producing, transporting and refining oil-sands derived crude, while greater on average than those from conventional crudes, can also overlap the conventional crude range, depending upon a number of factors. In other words, the studies found that emissions from some oil-sands crudes were less than calculated by earlier studies, and that emissions from some conventional crudes were more than calculated by earlier studies.
The two studies represent the first detailed and more granular comparison of domestic, imported and oil sands crude processes in US refineries. The research, conducted over the past year by US-based consulting companies Jacobs Consultancy and TIAX LLC, was funded by the Alberta Energy Research Institute (AERI).
More... | Comments (6) | TrackBack (0)
CFR Report Says Energy Security and Climate Change Concerns With Oil Sands Can be Reconciled
May 24, 2009
| Oil sands supply chain. Source: Levi 2009. Click to enlarge. |
A new report from the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR)—The Canadian Oil Sands: Energy Security vs Climate Change— claims that prudent greenhouse gas regulations can limit emissions from Canadian oil sands while still enabling robust development of the energy resource.
The report argues that oil sands production delivers both energy security benefits and climate change damages, but warns that both are often overstated. “For the near future, the economic and security value of oil sands expansion will likely outweigh the climate damages that the oil sands create,” it says, “but climate concerns cannot and must not be ignored, and will become more important over time.” Policymakers, it emphasizes, must carefully balance the two concerns.
More... | Comments (4) | TrackBack (0)
Genome Alberta Announces Funding for Genomics Project to Reduce Environmental Impact of Oil Sands Production
May 21, 2009
Genome Alberta announced C$25.2 million (US$22.2 million) in public/private funding over four years for two new genomic research projects, one targeted at enhanced recovery of fossil hydrocarbon resources from oil sands and coal beds through biological processes, the other focused on discovering plant genes that can be sequenced and used in yeast to produce industrial-scale volumes of biologically derived chemicals including pharmaceuticals, food products, and insecticides.
Major funding for the projects came from Industry Canada through Genome Canada and the Government of Alberta through Alberta Advanced Education and Technology. Genome Alberta is a not-for-profit organization based in Calgary which initiates, funds, and manages large-scale projects in genomics and other related areas. It is one of 6 similar Genome Centers across Canada funded in part by Industry Canada through Genome Canada.
More... | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
RAND Study Concludes Oil Sands Synthetic Crude Can Be Cost-Competitive with Conventional Petroleum Even Over a Wide Range of CO2 Prices
October 12, 2008
 |
| Estimated unit costs of SCO from steam-assisted gravity drainage (SAGD) with upgrading, with and without CCS, and of conventional crude oil in 2025, versus different costs of CO2 emissions. Click to enlarge. Source: RAND |
A new report from RAND concludes that in 2025, synthetic crude oil (SCO) produced from oil sands can have a cost advantage over conventional petroleum at a wide range of CO2 prices, even though it is more CO2-intensive (15-20% on a life-cycle basis). Coal-to-Liquids (CTL) transportation fuels can also be cost-competitive with conventional petroleum, although the degree of cost-competitiveness is more sensitive to the price of oil and the CO2 emission cost, the report says. CTL fuels can be approximately twice as CO2-intensive on a full life-cycle basis as conventional petroleum fuels.
Current methods for oil sands production require large quantities of water and can harm local water quality, the report notes. Development of oil sands can also cause large-scale disturbances of land and habitat. Both resources also represent potentially significant sources of carbon dioxide emissions. The study was funded by the National Commission on Energy Policy.
