90-861: Oil sands are a type of unconventional petroleum deposit . They are either loose sands, or partially consolidated sandstone containing a naturally occurring mixture of sand , clay , and water , soaked with bitumen (a dense and extremely viscous form of petroleum ). Significant bitumen deposits are reported in Canada , Kazakhstan , Russia , and Venezuela . The estimated worldwide deposits of oil are more than 2 trillion barrels (320 billion cubic metres). Proven reserves of bitumen contain approximately 100 billion barrels, and total natural bitumen reserves are estimated at 249.67 Gbbl (39.694 × 10 ^ m) worldwide, of which 176.8 Gbbl (28.11 × 10 ^ m), or 70.8%, are in Alberta, Canada. Crude bitumen
180-702: A detailed plan of his west coast project to the British government "Preliminaries to the Establishment of a Permanent British Fishery and Trade in Furs etc. on the Continent and West Coast of North America." The British government, at the time predicting conflict with Napoleon, took no action. (Later Simon Fraser and David Thompson worked to extend the Canadian fur trade and prevent U.S. incursion in what would be Canada. ) Mackenzie
270-422: A fuel, and coal tar as a material for paving roads has been replaced by the petroleum product asphalt . Naturally occurring bitumen is chemically more similar to asphalt than to coal tar, and the term oil sands (or oilsands) is more commonly used by industry in the producing areas than tar sands because synthetic oil is manufactured from the bitumen, and due to the feeling that the terminology of tar sands
360-462: A great depth , creating high subsurface temperatures, and producing a giant pressure cooker effect that converted the kerogen in the deeply buried organic-rich shales to light oil and natural gas. These source rocks were similar to the American so-called oil shales , except the latter have never been buried deep enough to convert the kerogen in them into liquid oil. This overthrusting also tilted
450-494: A major source of unconventional oil, although only Canada has a large-scale commercial oil sands industry. In 2006, bitumen production in Canada averaged 1.25 Mbbl/d (200,000 m/d) through 81 oil sands projects. 44% of Canadian oil production in 2007 was from oil sands. This proportion was (as of 2008) expected to increase in coming decades as bitumen production grows while conventional oil production declines, although due to
540-417: A message on a rock near the water's edge of Dean Channel , using a reddish paint made of vermilion and bear grease, and turned back east. The inscription read: "Alex MacKenzie / from Canada / by land / 22 July 1793" (at the time the name Canada was an informal term for the former French territory in what is now southern Quebec and Ontario). The words were later inscribed permanently by surveyors. The site
630-728: A potential record high at the end of the year of approximately 5.3 million barrels per day (bpd). The surge in production is attributed mainly to growth in Alberta's oilsands. The expansion of the Trans Mountain pipeline —the only oil pipeline to the West Coast—will further facilitate this increase, with its capacity set to increase significantly, to 890,000 barrels per day from 300,000 bpd currently. Despite this growth, there are warnings that it might be short-lived, with production potentially plateauing after 2024. Canada's anticipated increase in oil output exceeds that of other major producers like
720-820: A project to develop a small oil sands deposit in the Republic of the Congo . Production is scheduled to commence in 2014 and is estimated to eventually yield a total of 40,000 bbl/d (6,400 m/d). Except for a fraction of the extra-heavy oil or bitumen which can be extracted by conventional oil well technology, oil sands must be produced by strip mining or the oil made to flow into wells using sophisticated in-situ techniques. These methods usually use more water and require larger amounts of energy than conventional oil extraction. While much of Canada's oil sands are being produced using open-pit mining , approximately 90% of Canadian oil sands and all of Venezuela's oil sands are too far below
810-692: A result of the formation of the Canadian Rocky Mountains by the Pacific Plate overthrusting the North American Plate as it pushed in from the west, carrying the formerly large island chains which now compose most of British Columbia . The collision compressed the Alberta plains and raised the Rockies above the plains, forming mountain ranges . This mountain building process buried the sedimentary rock layers which underlie most of Alberta to
900-600: A result, the government has been trying to "Wind Down" the Orimulsion program. Despite the fact that the Orinoco oil sands contain extra-heavy oil which is easier to produce than Canada's similarly sized reserves of bitumen, Venezuela's oil production has been declining in recent years because of the country's political and economic problems, while Canada's has been increasing. As a result, Canadian heavy oil and bitumen exports have been backing Venezuelan heavy and extra-heavy oil out of
990-630: A shallow Permian formation. In Kazakhstan, large bitumen deposits are located in the North Caspian Basin. In Madagascar, Tsimiroro and Bemolanga are two heavy oil sands deposits, with a pilot well already producing small amounts of oil in Tsimiroro. and larger scale exploitation in the early planning phase. In the Republic of the Congo reserves are estimated between 0.5 and 2.5 Gbbl (79 × 10 ^ and 397 × 10 ^ m). Bituminous sands are
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#17332024552791080-561: A total of 32 Gbbl (5.1 × 10 ^ m) of oil (known and potential) in eight major deposits in Carbon , Garfield , Grand , Uintah , and Wayne counties. In addition to being much smaller than the Canadian oil sands deposits, the US oil sands are hydrocarbon-wet, whereas the Canadian oil sands are water-wet. This requires somewhat different extraction techniques for the Utah oil sands from those used for
1170-656: Is a fourth major oil sands deposit in Canada, the Melville Island oil sands in the Canadian Arctic islands , which are too remote to expect commercial production in the foreseeable future. Apart from the megagiant oil sands deposits in Canada and Venezuela, numerous other countries hold smaller oil sands deposits. In the United States, there are supergiant oil sands resources primarily concentrated in Eastern Utah , with
1260-538: Is a thick, sticky form of crude oil, and is so viscous that it will not flow unless heated or diluted with lighter hydrocarbons such as light crude oil or natural-gas condensate . At room temperature, it is much like cold molasses . The Orinoco Belt in Venezuela is sometimes described as oil sands, but these deposits are non-bituminous, falling instead into the category of heavy or extra-heavy oil due to their lower viscosity. Natural bitumen and extra-heavy oil differ in
1350-580: Is commonly used for production. The Cold Lake oil sands are of a roughly circular shape, centered around Bonnyville, Alberta . They probably contain over 60 billion cubic metres (370 billion barrels) of extra-heavy oil-in-place. The oil is highly viscous, but considerably less so than the Athabasca oil sands, and is somewhat less sulfurous . The depth of the deposits is 400 to 600 metres (1,300 to 2,000 ft) and they are from 15 to 35 metres (49 to 115 ft) thick. They are too deep to surface mine . Much of
1440-457: Is generally higher than conventional reservoirs owing to the lack of predictability of the trap extent and of the reservoir quality, which requires extensive well placement and testing to determine the economic reserves /well limit defined by well delivery . As with all forms of fossil fuel , there are established issues with greenhouse gas emissions through export (distribution) as well as consumption (combustion), which are identical whether
1530-470: Is less politically acceptable to the public. Oil sands are now an alternative to conventional crude oil. The world's largest deposits of oil sands are in Venezuela and Canada. The geology of the deposits in the two countries is generally rather similar. They are vast heavy oil , extra-heavy oil, and/or bitumen deposits with oil heavier than 20°API, found largely in unconsolidated sandstones with similar properties. "Unconsolidated" in this context means that
1620-652: Is not often used today. The Athabasca oil sands are the only major oil sands deposits which are shallow enough to surface mine. In the Athabasca sands there are very large amounts of bitumen covered by little overburden , making surface mining the most efficient method of extracting it. The overburden consists of water-laden muskeg (peat bog) overtop of clay and barren sand. The oil sands themselves are typically 40 to 60 metres (130 to 200 ft) thick deposits of crude bitumen embedded in unconsolidated sandstone , sitting on top of flat limestone rock. Since Great Canadian Oil Sands (now Suncor Energy ) started operation of
1710-445: Is now Sir Alexander Mackenzie Provincial Park and is designated First Crossing of North America National Historic Site . In 2016, Mackenzie was named a National Historic Person . He returned the way he had come, arriving at Fort Chipewyan on Aug. 24. He spent the winter there working in the fur trade. The next year he returned to Montreal. Soon after, he travelled to the U.S. and to London. He returned to Montreal and became one of
1800-475: Is significant, measurable and predictable. Alexander Mackenzie (explorer) Sir Alexander Mackenzie ( c. 1764 – 12 March 1820) was a Scottish explorer and fur trader known for accomplishing the first crossing of North America by a European in 1793. The Mackenzie River and Mount Sir Alexander are named after him. As a leading member of the North West Company, he aspired to extend
1890-587: Is south of Athabaska and the Wabasco oil sands are south of Athabaska and usually linked to it. According to the Petroleum Economist , oil sands occur in more than 70 countries, but the bulk is found in these four regions together covering an area of some 77,000 square kilometres (30,000 sq mi). In 2007 the World Energy Council estimated that these oil sands areas contained at least two-thirds of
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#17332024552791980-414: The 11 September 2001 attacks , and the 2003 invasion of Iraq . The boom periods were followed by the bust, as the global price of oil dropped during the 1980s and again in the 1990s, during a period of global recessions, and again in 2003. The name tar sands was applied to bituminous sands in the late 19th and early 20th century. People who saw the bituminous sands during this period were familiar with
2070-520: The American War of Independence , his father and uncle resumed their military duties and joined the King's Royal Regiment of New York as lieutenants. By 1778, for his safety as a son of loyalists, young Mackenzie was sent, or went accompanied by two aunts, to Montreal . By 1779 (a year before his father's death at Carleton Island ), Mackenzie had a secured apprenticeship with Finlay, Gregory & Co., one of
2160-654: The Black Isle . The Mackenzie River and Mount Sir Alexander are named for him, as is Mackenzie Bay , and the municipality of Mackenzie, British Columbia . There are a number of schools in Canada named after him, such as Sir Alexander Mackenzie Senior Public School in Toronto, Sir Alexander Mackenzie Elementary School in Vancouver, and Sir Alexander Mackenzie Elementary School in St. Albert. Also Sir Alexander Mackenzie School in
2250-518: The First Nation peoples had used bitumen from seeps along the Athabasca and Clearwater Rivers to waterproof their birch bark canoes from early prehistoric times. The Canadian oil sands first became known to Europeans in 1719 when a Cree person named Wa-Pa-Su brought a sample to Hudson's Bay Company fur trader Henry Kelsey , who commented on it in his journals. Fur trader Peter Pond paddled down
2340-811: The First Nations people understood that the local rivers flowed to the north-west. Thinking that it would lead to Cook Inlet in Alaska , he set out by canoe on the river known to the local Dene First Nations people as the Dehcho (Mackenzie River) , on 3 July 1789. On 14 July he reached the Arctic Ocean, rather than the Pacific. Later, in a letter to his cousin Roderick , he called the waterway "the River Disappointment," since
2430-579: The Jacobite rising of 1745 . He later became a merchant and held the tack of Melbost ; his grandfather being a younger brother of Murdoch Mackenzie, 6th Laird of Fairburn. Educated at the same school as Colin Mackenzie , the army officer and first Surveyor General of India , he sailed to New York City with his father to join an uncle, John Mackenzie, in 1774, after his mother died in Scotland. In 1776, during
2520-495: The Nootka Crisis with Spain, he returned to Canada in 1792, and set out to find a route to the Pacific. Accompanied by two native guides (one named Cancre), his cousin, Alexander MacKay , six Canadian voyageurs (Joseph Landry, Charles Ducette, François Beaulieu , Baptiste Bisson, Francois Courtois, Jacques Beauchamp), and a dog simply referred to as "our dog", Mackenzie left Fort Chipewyan on 10 October 1792, and travelled via
2610-592: The Orinoco oil sands where it pinches out against the igneous rocks of the Guyana Shield is only about 200 to 300 km (100 to 200 miles). The hydrodynamic conditions of oil transport were similar, source rocks buried deep by the rise of the mountains of the Sierra Orientale produced light oil that moved up-dip toward the south until it was gradually immobilized by the viscosity increase caused by biodgradation near
2700-600: The Peace River deposits of northwestern Alberta. Between them, they cover over 140,000 square kilometres (54,000 sq mi)—an area larger than England —and contain approximately 1.75 Tbbl (280 × 10 ^ m) of crude bitumen in them. About 10% of the oil in place , or 173 Gbbl (27.5 × 10 ^ m), is estimated by the government of Alberta to be recoverable at current prices, using current technology, which amounts to 97% of Canadian oil reserves and 75% of total North American petroleum reserves. Although
2790-491: The Peace River oil sands deposit is the smallest of four large deposits of oil sands of the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin formation. The Peace River oil sands lie, generally, in the watershed of the Peace River . The Peace River oil sands deposits are the smallest in the province. The largest, the Athabasca oil sands , are located to the east. The second largest the, Cold Lake oil sands deposit
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2880-621: The Pine River to the Peace River . From there he travelled to a fork on the Peace River arriving 1 November where he and his cohorts built a fortification that they resided in over the winter. This later became known as Fort Fork . Mackenzie left Fort Fork on 9 May 1793, following the route of the Peace River. He crossed the Great Divide and found the upper reaches of the Fraser River , but
2970-612: The Sumerians and Babylonians , although it was also found in the Levant and Persia . The area along the Tigris and Euphrates rivers was littered with hundreds of pure bitumen seepages. The Mesopotamians used the bitumen for waterproofing boats and buildings. In Europe, they were extensively mined near the French city of Pechelbronn , where the vapour separation process was in use in 1742. In Canada,
3060-548: The oil industry , there was no need for stimulation to improve recovery efficiency, because supply vastly outstripped demand and leaving "difficult" oil in the ground was economically expedient. Two world wars , followed by huge economic growth resulted in surging demand for cheap portable energy, while the availability of new conventional oil and gas resources declined. The industry initially sought to enhance recovery of trapped oil and gas, using techniques like restricted , or low volume hydraulic fracturing to stimulate
3150-424: The 2008 economic downturn work on new projects has been deferred. Petroleum is not produced from oil sands on a significant level in other countries. The Alberta oil sands have been in commercial production since the original Great Canadian Oil Sands (now Suncor Energy ) mine began operation in 1967. Syncrude 's second mine began operation in 1978 and is the biggest mine of any type in the world. The third mine in
3240-520: The Alberta oil sands. Russia holds oil sands in two main regions. Large resources are present in the Tunguska Basin , East Siberia , with the largest deposits being Olenyok and Siligir . Other deposits are located in the Timan-Pechora and Volga-Urals basins (in and around Tatarstan ), which is an important but very mature province in terms of conventional oil, holds large amounts of oil sands in
3330-673: The Alberta-Saskatchewan border, extending into Saskatchewan and approaching the Montana border. Note that, although adjacent to Alberta, Saskatchewan has no massive deposits of bitumen, only large reservoirs of heavy oil >10°API. Most of the Canadian oil sands are in three major deposits in northern Alberta. They are the Athabasca-Wabiskaw oil sands of north northeastern Alberta, the Cold Lake deposits of east northeastern Alberta, and
3420-572: The Athabasca Oil Sands, the Albian Sands consortium of Shell Canada , Chevron Corporation , and Western Oil Sands Inc. (purchased by Marathon Oil Corporation in 2007) began operation in 2003. Petro-Canada was also developing a $ 33 billion Fort Hills Project, in partnership with UTS Energy Corporation and Teck Cominco , which lost momentum after the 2009 merger of Petro-Canada into Suncor. By 2013 there were nine oil sands mining projects in
3510-496: The Athabasca deposit is the only one in the world which has areas shallow enough to mine from the surface, all three Alberta areas are suitable for production using in-situ methods, such as cyclic steam stimulation (CSS) and steam-assisted gravity drainage (SAGD). The largest Canadian oil sands deposit, the Athabasca oil sands is in the McMurray Formation , centered on the city of Fort McMurray, Alberta . It outcrops on
3600-709: The Athabasca oil sands deposit: Suncor Energy Inc. (Suncor), Syncrude Canada Limited (Syncrude)'s Mildred Lake and Aurora North, Shell Canada Limited (Shell)'s Muskeg River and Jackpine, Canadian Natural Resources Limited (CNRL)'s Horizon, Imperial Oil Resources Ventures Limited (Imperial), Kearl Oil Sands Project (KOSP), Total E&P Canada Ltd. Joslyn North Mine and Fort Hills Energy Corporation (FHEC). In 2011 alone they produced over 52 million cubic metres of bitumen. Canadian oil sand extraction has created extensive environmental damage, and many first nations peoples, scientists, lawyers, journalists and environmental groups have described Canadian oil sands mining as an ecocide . From
3690-537: The Athabasca tar sands, are large deposits of oil sands rich in bitumen , a heavy and viscous form of petroleum, in northeastern Alberta , Canada. These reserves are one of the largest sources of unconventional oil in the world, making Canada a significant player in the global energy market. As of 2023, Canada's oil sands industry, along with Western Canada and offshore petroleum facilities near Newfoundland and Labrador, continued to increase production and were projected to increase by an estimated 10% in 2024 representing
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3780-602: The Bella Coola Valley, BC. He is referenced in the 1981 folk song "Northwest Passage" by Stan Rogers . The Alexander Mackenzie rose (Explorer Series), developed in 1985 by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada , was named in his honour. Between 1989 and 1993, the Mackenzie Bicentennial Sea-to-Sea Expeditions of Lakehead University attempted a segmented re-enactment of the journey between Montreal and Bella Coola, British Columbia , but
3870-492: The Canadian provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan . If 30% of this oil could be extracted, it could supply the entire needs of North America for over 100 years at 2002 consumption levels. These deposits represent plentiful oil, but not cheap oil. They require advanced technology to extract the oil and transport it to oil refineries . The oil sands of the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin (WCSB) are
3960-472: The Clearwater River to Athabasca in 1778, saw the deposits and wrote of "springs of bitumen that flow along the ground". In 1787, fur trader and explorer Alexander MacKenzie on his way to the Arctic Ocean saw the Athabasca oil sands, and commented, "At about 24 miles from the fork (of the Athabasca and Clearwater Rivers) are some bituminous fountains into which a pole of 20 feet long may be inserted without
4050-867: The Company's operations into western Canada and selling those furs in China. His hopes thus were intrusions on the monopoly positions of both the Hudson's Bay Company and the East India Company. Mackenzie was born in Stornoway in Lewis . He was the third of the four children born to Kenneth 'Corc' Mackenzie (1731–1780) and his wife Isabella MacIver, from another prominent mercantile family in Stornoway. When only 14 years old, Mackenzie's father served as an ensign to protect Stornoway during
4140-536: The Pacific Ocean. Having done this, he had completed the first recorded transcontinental crossing of North America north of Mexico, 12 years before Lewis and Clark . He had unknowingly missed meeting George Vancouver at Bella Coola by 48 days. He had wanted to continue westward out of a desire to reach the open ocean, but was stopped by the hostility of the Heiltsuk people . Hemmed in by Heiltsuk war canoes, he wrote
4230-574: The Synenco Energy (now owned by TotalEnergies ) Northern Lights mine, and Suncor's Fort Hills mine. Unconventional oil Unconventional (oil and gas) reservoirs , or unconventional resources (resource plays) are accumulations where oil and gas phases are tightly bound to the rock fabric by strong capillary forces , requiring specialized measures for evaluation and extraction . Oil and gas are generated naturally at depths of around 4 or 5 kms below Earth’s surface . Being lighter than
4320-476: The US market, and Canada's total exports of oil to the US have become several times as great as Venezuela's. By 2016, with the economy of Venezuela in a tailspin and the country experiencing widespread shortages of food, rolling power blackouts, rioting, and anti-government protests, it was unclear how much new oil sands production would occur in the near future. In May 2008, the Italian oil company Eni announced
4410-454: The United States, and the country is poised to become a significant driver of global crude oil production growth in 2024. The exploitation of these resources has stirred debates regarding economic development, energy security, and environmental impacts, particularly emissions from the oilsands, prompting discussions around emissions regulations for the oil and gas sector. The Cold Lake oil sands are northeast of Alberta's capital, Edmonton , near
4500-455: The Venezuelan oil sands, where the extra-heavy oil is about 50 degrees Celsius , the typical oil recovery rates are about 8–12%. Canadian oil sands are much colder and more biodegraded, so bitumen recovery rates are usually only about 5–6%. Historically, primary recovery was used in the more fluid areas of Canadian oil sands. However, it recovered only a small fraction of the oil in place , so it
4590-660: The amount that can be produced depends on technological evolution . Rapid technological developments in Canada in the 1985–2000 period resulted in techniques such as steam-assisted gravity drainage (SAGD) that can recover a much greater percentage of the OOIP than conventional methods. The Alberta government estimates that with current technology, 10% of its bitumen and heavy oil can be recovered, which would give it about 200 billion barrels (32 billion m) of recoverable oil reserves. Venezuela estimates its recoverable oil at 267 billion barrels (42 billion m). This places Canada and Venezuela in
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#17332024552794680-538: The beginning of 2022 oil sands extraction in Alberta has sharply increased, overpassing by far the level of 2014. High oil prices is one of the causes. In 2024 it is projected to increase more, so Canada can become a leader in oil production. No significant development of Venezuela's extra-heavy oil deposits was undertaken before 2000, except for the BITOR operation which produced somewhat less than 100,000 barrels of oil per day (16,000 m/d) of 9°API oil by primary production. This
4770-546: The border with Saskatchewan. A small portion of the Cold Lake deposit lies in Saskatchewan. Although smaller than the Athabasca oil sands, the Cold Lake oil sands are important because some of the oil is fluid enough to be extracted by conventional methods. The Cold Lake bitumen contains more alkanes and less asphaltenes than the other major Alberta oil sands and the oil is more fluid. As a result, cyclic steam stimulation (CSS)
4860-485: The combined area covered by the Canadian deposits. In general, the Canadian deposits are found over a much wider area, have a broader range of properties, and have a broader range of reservoir types than the Venezuelan ones, but the geological structures and mechanisms involved are similar. The main differences is that the oil in the sands in Venezuela is less viscous than in Canada, allowing some of it to be produced by conventional drilling techniques, but none of it approaches
4950-477: The cost of production is so much higher at oil sands petroleum-mining operations, the breakeven point is much higher than for sweeter lighter oils like that produced by Saudi Arabia , Iran , Iraq , and, the United States. Oil sands productions expand and prosper as the global price of oil increased to peak highs because of the Arab oil embargo of 1973 , the 1979 Iranian Revolution , the 1990 Persian Gulf crisis and war ,
5040-444: The degree by which they have been degraded from the original conventional oils by bacteria . The 1973 and 1979 oil price increases, and the development of improved extraction technology enabled profitable extraction and processing of the oil sands. Together with other so-called unconventional oil extraction practices, oil sands are implicated in the unburnable carbon debate but also contribute to energy security and counteract
5130-505: The estate of Avoch with money left to him by his first cousin and brother-in-law, Admiral George Geddes Mackenzie. Lady Mackenzie's father was a first cousin of the father of George Simpson , Governor of the Hudson's Bay Company . The Mackenzies lived alternately in Avoch and London. He died in 1820 of Bright's disease , at about the age of 56 (his date of birth is unknown). He is buried at Avoch on
5220-580: The first large-scale oil sands mine in 1967, bitumen has been extracted on a commercial scale and the volume has grown at a steady rate ever since. A large number of oil sands mines are currently in operation and more are in the stages of approval or development. The Syncrude Canada mine was the second to open in 1978, Shell Canada opened its Muskeg River mine (Albian Sands) in 2003 and Canadian Natural Resources Ltd (CNRL) opened its Horizon Oil Sands project in 2009. Newer mines include Shell Canada's Jackpine mine, Imperial Oil 's Kearl Oil Sands Project ,
5310-569: The international price cartel OPEC . According to the Oil Climate Index, carbon emissions from oil-sand crude are 31% higher than from conventional oil. In Canada, oil sands production in general, and in-situ extraction, in particular, are the largest contributors to the increase in the nation's greenhouse gas emissions from 2005 to 2017, according to Natural Resources Canada (NRCan). The use of bituminous deposits and seeps dates back to Paleolithic times. The earliest known use of bitumen
5400-442: The large amounts of tar residue produced in urban areas as a by-product of the manufacture of coal gas for urban heating and lighting. The word " tar " to describe these natural bitumen deposits is really a misnomer, since, chemically speaking, tar is a human-made substance produced by the destructive distillation of organic material , usually coal . Since then, coal gas has almost completely been replaced by natural gas as
5490-506: The leading partners of the North West Company. In 1799 he left the Company and travelled to London to lobby on behalf of the Canadian fur trade. In 1800 he returned to Canada and aided in the formation of the New North West Company (also known as the XY Company). In his journal Mackenzie recorded the Carrier language for the first time. In 1801 he returned to London and that year the journals of his exploratory journeys were published. [1] (They were later reprinted. ) He then presented
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#17332024552795580-457: The least resistance." In their May 2019 comparison of the "cost of supply curve update" in which the Norway-based Rystad Energy—an "independent energy research and consultancy"—ranked the "worlds total recoverable liquid resources by their breakeven price", Rystad reported that the average breakeven price for oil from the oil sands was US$ 83 in 2019, making it the most expensive to produce, compared to all other "significant oil producing regions" in
5670-425: The most influential fur trading companies in Montreal, which was later administered by Archibald Norman McLeod . In 1787, the company merged with the North West Company . On behalf of the North West Company, Mackenzie journeyed to Lake Athabasca where, in 1788, he was one of the founders of Fort Chipewyan . He had been sent to replace Peter Pond , a partner in the North West Company. From Pond, he learned that
5760-408: The mountains. The light oil migrated up-dip through hydro-dynamic transport from the Rockies in the southwest toward the Canadian Shield in the northeast following a complex pre-Cretaceous unconformity that exists in the formations under Alberta. The total distance of oil migration southwest to northeast was about 500 to 700 km (300 to 400 miles). At the shallow depths of sedimentary formations in
5850-403: The northeast, massive microbial biodegradation as the oil approached the surface caused the oil to become highly viscous and immobile. Almost all of the remaining oil is found in the far north of Alberta, in Middle Cretaceous (115 million-year old) sand-silt-shale deposits overlain by thick shales, although large amounts of heavy oil lighter than bitumen are found in the Heavy Oil Belt along
5940-476: The oil or gas are derived from conventional or unconventional reservoirs. Their carbon footprints , however, are radically different: conventional reservoirs use the natural energy in the environment to flow oil and gas to the surface unaided; unconventional reservoirs require putting energy into the ground for extraction, either as heat ( e.g. tar sands and oil shales) or as pressure ( e.g. shale gas and CBM ). The artificial transfer of heat and pressure require
6030-535: The oil sands are on Canadian Forces Base Cold Lake . CFB Cold Lake's CF-18 Hornet jet fighters defend the western half of Canadian air space and cover Canada's Arctic territory. Cold Lake Air Weapons Range (CLAWR) is one of the largest live-drop bombing ranges in the world, including testing of cruise missiles. As oil sands production continues to grow, various sectors vie for access to airspace, land, and resources, and this complicates oil well drilling and production significantly. Located in northwest-central Alberta ,
6120-401: The pockets are permeable , they are referred to as conventional reservoirs . Wells are drilled into these reservoirs to create a path for oil and gas to reach the surface. When pressure differences are relatively high, oil and gas rise to the well bore naturally through buoyancy. Where the pressures are low, flow can be assisted with pumps (e.g. nodding donkeys ). In the early days of
6210-457: The pre- Cretaceous sedimentary rock formations underlying most of the sub-surface of Alberta, depressing the rock formations in southwest Alberta up to 8 km (5 miles) deep near the Rockies, but to zero depth in the northeast, where they pinched out against the igneous rocks of the Canadian Shield , which outcrop on the surface. This tilting is not apparent on the surface because the resulting trench has been filled in by eroded material from
6300-462: The qualities of the reservoir and/or the physical properties of the oil and gas ( i.e. permeability and/or viscosity ). These characteristics significantly impact predictability (risk to find, appraise and develop) and in turn the methods of extraction from those reservoirs such as fracking . Conventional oil & gas accumulations are concentrated by buoyancy driven aquifer pathways into discrete geological traps, which are detectable from
6390-735: The reservoir further, thereby reducing the volume of oil and gas left in the ground to an economic minimum. By the turn of the millennium , a new kind of energy resource was required, particularly by the USA, who were driven to achieve energy independence . The USA turned to unconventional reservoirs to achieve their goals, which had been known about for decades but had previously been too costly to be economically attractive. Today, unconventional reservoirs include basin-centered gas , shale gas , coalbed methane (CBM), gas hydrates , tar sands , light tight oil and oil shale , mostly from North America. The distinction between conventional and unconventional resources reflects differences in
6480-515: The river did not prove to be the Northwest Passage , as he had hoped. In fact the story is probably apocryphal, as Mackenzie's own and contemporary records merely refer to it as the "Grand River." The river came to be known as the Mackenzie River in his honour. In 1791, Mackenzie returned to Great Britain to study the new advance in the measurement of longitude . In the aftermath of
6570-402: The river. It is approximately 600 kilometres (370 mi) from east to west, and 70 kilometres (43 mi) from north to south, with an area about 55,314 square kilometres (21,357 sq mi). The oil sands consist of large deposits of extra heavy crude . Venezuela's heavy oil deposits of about 1,200 Gbbl (190 × 10 ^ m) of oil in place are estimated to approximately equal
6660-485: The rock by strong capillary forces incapable of flowing naturally through buoyancy. The limits of an unconventional field are therefore usually defined by relatively expensive well testing for delivery. Extraction from unconventional reservoirs requires changing the physical properties of the reservoir, or the flow characteristics of the fluid, using techniques such as fracking or steam injection . The technical and commercial risk associated with unconventional reservoirs
6750-563: The same league as Saudi Arabia, having the three largest oil reserves in the world . There are numerous deposits of oil sands in the world, but the biggest and most important are in Canada and Venezuela, with lesser deposits in Kazakhstan and Russia. The total volume of non-conventional oil in the oil sands of these countries exceeds the reserves of conventional oil in all other countries combined. Vast deposits of bitumen—over 350 billion cubic metres (2.2 trillion barrels) of oil in place —exist in
6840-410: The sands have high porosity, no significant cohesion, and a tensile strength close to zero. The sands are saturated with oil which has prevented them from consolidating into hard sandstone. The magnitude of the resources in the two countries is on the order of 3.5 to 4 trillion barrels (550 to 650 billion cubic metres) of original oil in place (OOIP). Oil in place is not necessarily oil reserves , and
6930-554: The surface (zero burial depth) about 50 km (30 miles) north of Fort McMurray, where enormous oil sands mines have been established, but is 400 m (1,300 ft) deep southeast of Fort McMurray. Only 3% of the oil sands area containing about 20% of the recoverable oil can be produced by surface mining , so the remaining 80% will have to be produced using in-situ wells. The other Canadian deposits are between 350 and 900 m (1,000 and 3,000 ft) deep and will require in-situ production. The Athabasca oil sands , also known as
7020-453: The surface as in Canada, meaning none of it can be produced using surface mining. The Canadian deposits will almost all have to be produced by mining or using new non-conventional techniques. The Orinoco Belt is a territory in the southern strip of the eastern Orinoco River Basin in Venezuela which overlies one of the world's largest deposits of petroleum. The Orinoco Belt follows the line of
7110-403: The surface to use surface mining. Conventional crude oil is normally extracted from the ground by drilling oil wells into a petroleum reservoir , allowing oil to flow into them under natural reservoir pressures, although artificial lift and techniques such as horizontal drilling , water flooding and gas injection are often required to maintain production. When primary production is used in
7200-830: The surface. These traps constitute relatively small but high resource density fields . Most conventional oil or gas fields initially flow naturally by buoyancy alone into the well bore, with their limits defined by fluid mechanics measurable from the well bore ( e.g. fluid pressure, OWC/GWC etc. ). In general, the technical and commercial risk associated with discrete conventional reservoirs can be reduced using relatively inexpensive remote techniques such as reflection seismology and extracted with relatively few appraisal and development wells. Unconventional reservoirs, in contrast, are regionally dispersed over large areas with no indicative trap geometry that can be used for predictive purposes. The oil and gas in unconventional reservoirs are generally low density resources, frequently trapped in
7290-507: The surface. The Orinoco deposits are early Tertiary (50 to 60 million years old) sand-silt-shale sequences overlain by continuous thick shales, much like the Canadian deposits. In Venezuela, the Orinoco Belt oil sands range from 350 to 1,000 m (1,000 to 3,000 ft) deep and no surface outcrops exist. The deposit is about 500 km (300 miles) long east-to-west and 50 to 60 km (30 to 40 miles) wide north-to-south, much less than
7380-425: The use of large volumes of fresh water creating supply and disposal issues . The distribution of the resource over large areas creates land use issues, with implications for local communities on infrastructure, freight traffic and local economies. Impact on the environment is an unavoidable consequence of all human activity but the difference between the impact of conventional reservoirs compared with unconventional
7470-479: The water saturating rocks below the water table , the oil and gas are driven by buoyancy up through aquifer pathways towards Earth's surface over time. Some of the oil and gas percolate all the way to the surface as natural seepages , either on land or on the sea floor. The rest remains trapped underground by geological barriers in a variety of trap geometries . In this way, underground pockets of oil and gas accumulate by displacing water in porous rock . If
7560-532: The world's discovered bitumen in place at the time, with an original oil-in-place (OOIP) reserve of 260,000,000,000 cubic metres (9.2 × 10 cu ft) (1.6 trn barrels ), an amount comparable to the total world reserves of conventional oil. The Eastern Venezuelan Basin has a structure similar to the WCSB, but on a shorter scale. The distance the oil has migrated up-dip from the Sierra Oriental mountain front to
7650-485: The world's reserves of lighter oil. In 2009, the US Geological Survey (USGS) increased its estimates of the reserves to 513 Gbbl (81.6 × 10 ^ m) of oil which is "technically recoverable (producible using currently available technology and industry practices)." No estimate of how much of the oil is economically recoverable was made. In addition to the three major Canadian oil sands in Alberta, there
7740-580: The world. The International Energy Agency made similar comparisons. The price per barrel of heavier, sour crude oils lacking in tidewater access—such as Western Canadian Select (WCS) from the Athabaska oil sands, are priced at a differential to the lighter, sweeter oil —such as West Texas Intermediate (WTI). The price is based on its grade—determined by factors such as its specific gravity or API and its sulfur content—and its location—for example, its proximity to tidewater and/or refineries. Because
7830-613: Was knighted in 1802. He returned to Canada, where as Sir Mackenzie, he was lionized, He was elected to the Legislature of Lower Canada . He served as member for Huntingdon County from 1804 to 1808. In 1812 Mackenzie, then aged 48, returned to Scotland, where he married 14-year-old Geddes Mackenzie, twin heiress of Avoch . They had two sons and a daughter. Her grandfather, Captain John Mackenzie of Castle Leod (great-grandson of George Mackenzie, 2nd Earl of Seaforth ), purchased
7920-479: Was by Neanderthals , some 40,000 years ago. Bitumen has been found adhering to stone tools used by Neanderthals at sites in Syria. After the arrival of Homo sapiens , humans used bitumen for construction of buildings and waterproofing of reed boats , among other uses. In ancient Egypt, the use of bitumen was important in preparing mummies . In ancient times, bitumen was primarily a Mesopotamian commodity used by
8010-451: Was mostly shipped as an emulsion ( Orimulsion ) of 70% oil and 30% water with similar characteristics as heavy fuel oil for burning in thermal power plants. However, when a major strike hit the Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA , most of the engineers were fired as punishment. Orimulsion had been the pride of the PDVSA engineers, so Orimulsion fell out of favor with the key political leaders. As
8100-671: Was warned by the local natives that the Fraser Canyon to the south was unnavigable and populated by belligerent tribes. He was instead directed to follow a grease trail by ascending the West Road River , crossing over the Coast Mountains and descending the Bella Coola River to the sea. He followed this advice and reached the Pacific coast on 20 July 1793, at Bella Coola, British Columbia , on North Bentinck Arm , an inlet of
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