Oil Sands Quarterly Update
ALBERTA O I L S A N D S INDUSTRY Q U A R T E R L Y UPDATE SPRING 2012 Reporting on the period: Dec. 3, 2011 to March 9, 2012 2 ALBERTA OIL SANDS INDUSTRY QUARTERLY UPDATE Canada has the third-largest oil bitumen deposits are too deep reserves in the world, next to Saudi underground to economically employ Arabia and Venezuela. Of Canada’s this technology. 179 billion barrels of oil reserves, Right now there are essentially 170 billion barrels are located All about two commercial methods of in situ in Alberta, and have the special (Latin for “in place,” essentially quality of being bitumen. This is a meaning wells are used rather than the oil sands resource that has been developed trucks and shovels). In cyclic steam for decades, but is only now coming Background of an stimulation (CSS), high-pressure into the forefront of the global energy steam is injected into directional important global resource industry, as conventional supplies— wells drilled from pads for a period so-called “easy” oil—continue to be of time, then the steam is left to depleted. The figure of 170 billion soak in the reservoir for a period, barrels represents what is considered melting the bitumen, and then economically recoverable with the same wells are switched into today’s technology, but with new production mode, bringing the technologies, this reserve estimate bitumen to the surface. could be increased to as much as 315 billion barrels. In steam assisted gravity drainage (SAGD), parallel horizontal well pairs There are three major bitumen (or are drilled from well pads at the oil sands) deposits in Alberta.
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