In Situ Report Card
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Drilling DEEPERTHE IN SITU OIL SANDS REPORT CARD JEREMY MOORHOUSE • MARC HUOT • SIMON DYER March 2010 Oil SANDSFever SERIES Drilling Deeper The In Situ Oil Sands Report Card Jeremy Moorhouse Marc Huot Simon Dyer March 2010 The In Situ Oil Sands Report Card About the Pembina Institute The Pembina Institute The Pembina Institute is a national The Pembina Institute provides policy Box 7558 non-profit think tank that advances research leadership and education on Drayton Valley, Alberta, T7A 1S7 sustainable energy solutions through climate change, energy issues, green Phone: 780-542-6272 research, education, consulting and economics, energy efficiency and advocacy. It promotes environmental, conservation, renewable energy, and E-mail: [email protected] social and economic sustainability in environmental governance. For more the public interest by developing information about the Pembina practical solutions for communities, Institute, visit www.pembina.org or individuals, governments and businesses. contact info @pembina.org. Acknowledgements The Pembina Institute thanks the graciously reviewed and commented William and Flora Hewlett Foundation on the data the Pembina Institute for its support of this work. The had collected for this analysis. Their Pembina Institute would also like to comments and insights improved acknowledge the support of Cenovus, the quality of this report and the Shell and Husky for participating in this Pembina Institute’s understanding process. Each of these companies of in situ operations. ii DRILLING DEEPER: THE IN SITU OIL SANDS REPORT CARD The Pembina Institute The In Situ Oil Sands Report Card About the Authors Jeremy Moorhouse of Alberta, and a Master of Arts in Technical Analyst natural sciences Jeremy is a Technical Analyst with the from Cambridge Pembina Institute’s Corporate University. Simon is Consulting team. He provides technical the co-author of analysis for life cycle value assessments Death by a for decision-making. Thousand Cuts: Jeremy’s other projects Impacts of include conducting In Situ Oil Sands research into practices Development on and strategies for Alberta’s Boreal sustainability and Forest and Haste evaluating the Makes Waste: The Need for a New Oil performance of current Sands Tenure Regime. and proposed oil sands projects. Assessing and evaluating emerging Marc Huot technologies is also a Policy Analyst key focus of Jeremy’s work. His technical background Marc Huot is a Policy Analyst with the includes experimental mining Pembina Institute’s Oil Sands Program. equipment design and production, as Marc is involved with researching and well as experimental data analysis. He reviewing environmental impacts has experience and knowledge in energy associated with systems, water management and solid- oil sands waste management. Jeremy holds a development. bachelor’s degree in mechanical His technical engineering from McGill University. background includes Simon Dyer knowledge of renewable Oil Sands Program Director energy, life cycle Simon Dyer is a registered professional assessment biologist and has worked on land use methodology issues in western Canada since 1999. and energy Simon represented the Pembina systems. Marc holds a Bachelor of Institute on the Sustainable Ecosystems Science and a Master of Science in Working Group of the Cumulative mechanical engineering from the Environmental Management University of Alberta. Association (CEMA). Simon holds a Master of Science in environmental biology and ecology from the University The Pembina Institute DRILLING DEEPER: THE IN SITU OIL SANDS REPORT CARD iii The In Situ Oil Sands Report Card Drilling Deeper: The In Situ Oil Sands Report Card March 2010 The Pembina Institute Editor: Roland Lines Box 7558 Layout: J&W Communications Inc Drayton Valley, Alberta Cover Photo: T7A 1S7 Canada Courtesy of Husky Energy Phone: 780-542-6272 Cover Photo / Inset: E-mail: [email protected] David Dodge, The Pembina Institute Additional copies of this publication ©2010 The Pembina Institute may be downloaded from our website, www.oilsandswatch.org. iv DRILLING DEEPER: THE IN SITU OIL SANDS REPORT CARD The Pembina Institute The In Situ Oil Sands Report Card Table of Contents Executive Summary .................................................................................................. ix Introduction .............................................................................................................. 1 Project Scope .......................................................................................................... 3 Data Collection ...................................................................................................... 4 Performance Criteria .............................................................................................. 4 Cogeneration ........................................................................................................ 14 Scoring ................................................................................................................. 15 Limitations ........................................................................................................... 16 About In Situ Production ....................................................................................... 17 Alberta’s Oil Sands ................................................................................................ 17 In Situ Production Technologies .......................................................................... 17 Mining ................................................................................................................. 19 SURVEY RESULTS ................................................................................................. 20 General Environmental Management .................................................................... 21 1. Continuous Improvement ................................................................................ 22 2. Third-Party Validation ..................................................................................... 23 3. Public Data Reporting ..................................................................................... 24 4. Regulatory Compliance .................................................................................... 26 Land ......................................................................................................................... 29 5. Footprint .......................................................................................................... 30 6. Conservation Offsets ........................................................................................ 32 7. Caribou Habitat ............................................................................................... 34 8. Conservation Planning ..................................................................................... 35 9. Biodiversity Monitoring ................................................................................... 37 Air Emissions ........................................................................................................... 39 10. Nitrogen Oxides Emissions ............................................................................ 40 11. Sulphur Dioxide Emissions ............................................................................ 42 12. Reduction Targets ........................................................................................... 44 The Pembina Institute DRILLING DEEPER: THE IN SITU OIL SANDS REPORT CARD v The In Situ Oil Sands Report Card TABLE OF CONTENTS Water .........................................................................................................................45 13. Total Water Consumption .............................................................................. 46 14. Freshwater Consumption ............................................................................... 48 15. Liquid Waste .................................................................................................. 50 16. Reduction Targets ........................................................................................... 52 Climate Change ....................................................................................................... 53 17. GHG Emissions ............................................................................................. 54 18. Reduction Targets ........................................................................................... 56 Conclusions ............................................................................................................. 57 Recommendations ................................................................................................... 61 Government ......................................................................................................... 61 Industry ................................................................................................................ 63 Summary of Conclusions and Recommendations ................................................ 66 Appendix: Project Summaries ................................................................................ 69 Canadian Natural Primrose/Wolf Lake ................................................................ 70 Cenovus Christina Lake ....................................................................................... 71 ` Cenovus Foster Creek ..........................................................................................