Listing description
Oil
sands, tar sands or, more
technically, bituminous sands, are a type of unconventional petroleum
deposit.
Oil sands are either
loose sands or partially consolidated sandstone containing a naturally
occurring mixture of sand, clay, and water,saturated with a dense and extremely viscous form of petroleum technically
referred to as bitumen (or
colloquially tar due to its similar appearance, odour, and colour).
Detailed description
Natural bitumen
deposits are reported in many countries, but in particular are found in
extremely large quantities in Canada.[1][2] Other
large reserves are located in Kazakhstan and Russia. The estimated
worldwide deposits of oil are more than 2 trillion barrels (320 billion
cubic metres);[3] the
estimates include deposits that have not been discovered. Proven reserves of
bitumen contain approximately 100 billion barrels,[4] and total
natural bitumen reserves are estimated at 249.67 Gbbl (39.694×109 m3)
worldwide, of which 176.8 Gbbl (28.11×109 m3),
or 70.8%, are in Alberta, Canada.[1]
Oil sands reserves
have only recently[when?] been considered to be part of the
world's oil reserves, as higher
oil prices and new technology enable profitable extraction and processing. Oil
produced from bitumen sands is often referred to as unconventional oil or crude bitumen, to distinguish it from liquid hydrocarbons produced
from traditional oil wells.
The crude bitumen
contained in the Canadian oil sands is described by the National Energy Board of Canada as "a highly viscous mixture of
hydrocarbons heavier than pentanes which, in
its natural state, is not usually recoverable at a commercial rate through a
well because it is too thick to flow."[5] Crude
bitumen is a thick, sticky form of crude oil, so heavy and viscous (thick) 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.[6]The World Energy Council (WEC) defines natural bitumen as "oil having a viscosity greater
than 10,000 centipoise under reservoir conditions and an API gravity of less
than 10° API".[7] 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.[8] Natural
bitumen and extra-heavy oil differ in the degree by which they have been
degraded from the original conventional oils by bacteria. According to
the WEC, extra-heavy oil has "a gravity of less than 10° API and a
reservoir viscosity of no more than 10,000 centipoise".[7]
According to the
study ordered by the Government of Alberta and conducted by Jacobs Engineering Group, emissions from oil-sand crudeare 12%
higher than from conventional oil.[9]
History
The exploitation of
bituminous deposits and seeps dates
back to Paleolithic times.[10] The
earliest known use of bitumen 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 Egyptian
mummies.[11]
In ancient times,
bitumen was primarily a Mesopotamian commodity
used by 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.[12][13]
Nomenclature
The name tar sands was applied to bituminous sands in the
late 19th and early 20th century.[citation
needed] People who saw the bituminous sands during this period
were familiar with 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.[14] 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, usuallycoal.[15]
Since then, coal gas
has almost completely been replaced by natural gas as a
fuel, and coal tar as a
material for paving roads has been replaced by the petroleum productasphalt. 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,[15] and due
to the feeling that the terminology of tar
sands is less politically
acceptable to the public.[16] Oil sands
are now an alternative to conventional crude oil.[17]
Early explorers
In Canada, 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 native named Wa-Pa-Su brought a sample to Hudsons Bay Company fur trader Henry Kelsey, who
commented on it in his journals. Fur trader Peter Pond paddled down 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 the least resistance."
PRICE
$54/BARREL
OR $0.39/KG AND $0.18/IB
For more information:
mobile: +2348039721941
contact person: emeaba uche
e-mail: emeabau@yahoo.com
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