Tar sand mining has been in the headlines this week due to the large protests in Washington, D.C. however, it is not a new story. The Tar Sands of Alberta Canada have been in operation since 1967 and have grown with the increased demand of petroleum products. With the price of oil hovering around $90 a barrel, extracting the bitumen from the tar sands is a very lucrative business.
How it is extracted and refined
The most common method is strip mining where large mechanical shovels scoop up the ground which contains sand, clay and bitumen (a thick heavy viscous oil) and carries the slurry to special refining stations where the bitumen can be separated from the impurities. Due to the extremely viscous nature of bitumen, it cannot be pumped from the ground like light crude. The separation method usually uses hot water and caustic soda, then the mixture is agitated and the oil can be skimmed from the top. Occasionally, steam and hot water or solvents are also used in the extraction process to thin out the bitumen making it easier to draw out of the ground - especially if the bitumen is not close to the surface.
It takes approximately two tons of oil sands to produce one barrel of oil (1/8 of a ton). Extraction and refining costs for tar sands are estimated to be around $28 a barrel where light crude costs about $6 a barrel to produce. The energy used to refine bitumen is not the only consideration. To separate the oil from the sediment, a large amount of water is used which depletes the area around refineries of a vital natural resource for the wildlife, environment and people living within the watershed of the water source. In addition, greenhouse gas emissions from tar sands production are three times those of conventional oil and gas production, and producing synthetic crude oil emits up to 20% more greenhouse gas emissions than low-sulfur, light crude oils.
Canada is the largest supplier of crude oil and refined products to the United States, supplying about 20% of total U.S. imports, and exports more oil and products to the U.S. than it consumes itself. In 2006, bitumen production averaged 1.25 million barrels per day (200,000 m3/d) through 81 oil sands projects (that is roughly 2.5 million tons of tar sand a day), representing 47% of total Canadian petroleum production.
The Pipeline
To secure the future of tar sand mining, the Keystone Pipeline Project is currently underway. This pipeline will stretch from Canada's Tar Sands to refineries in Texas. This pipeline will cross over thousands of miles of prairie lands, farmland and aquifers - any leaks or accidents would be devastating to the surrounding ecosystem, water and food supply. Even the GOP governor of Nebraska is not happy with the proposed pipeline and has asked the Obama Administration to deny the pipeline permit.
Instead of Suncor, Shell and many other oil companies spending more money on research and development of safer and cleaner energies, they have decided to sink $13 billion into the construction of a pipeline and it would seem that the U.S. congress approves of their actions since they still subsidize the oil industry. This is appalling considering that the five largest oil companies this year alone, posted a $38 billion profit. The current subsidies should be reallocated to companies that are developing cleaner, more efficient energy sources for the future, not supporting oil companies that do not need the subsidy.
The extraction and refining of bitumen is time consuming, highly inefficient and dirtier than light crude production. The Keystone Pipeline, running across land that we depend on for our food supply, poses a larger risk than pipelines used in places like Alaska, or even the U.S. gulf coast. Contact your representatives in Congress and let them know your thoughts on these issues.
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