alternative sources of energy tar sand oil

StarterWhat Do All The Following Have In Common?

Key TermFinite: a resource that is limited or restricted

How Much Oil Is There?

The amount of oil consumed in 6 weeks, half of which is

used for transportation, would have lasted for a year in 1950.

Source: United Nations

TaskState 1 fact from the information below

Title?: A Map To Show….

Instructions: Use the table and an atlas to identify the top 14 global producers of oil, use the space around the edge of the map to add labels of the appropriate countries.

What about the oil that’s left? Can’t we use that?

Extracting Oil From The Canadian Tar Sands – Before and After

Tar sands consist of oil trapped in a complex mixture of sand, water and clay. Extraction and

production emits on average three times as much carbon dioxide compared to conventional

oil.

To extract (take out) the tar, oil companies deforest the Canadian forest, gouge out

hundreds of metres of topsoil, and turn the landscape into a gaping black pit. Two tonnes of

earth has to be dug up and processed to produce each barrel of bitumen (oil).

It produces a lot of carbon to extract oil from the tar sands. The site that BP is planning to invest in will produce about three times the emissions per barrel of oil than you would get from normal crude oil.

Production means removing the Canadian forest, destroying the habitat of many plants and animals, and driving many local wildlife species to extinction.

The huge lakes of toxic sludge that fill with the toxic water used in the operation are poisoning the landscape and water supplies. The impact falls heavily on the First Nations indigenous people of the area.

Current production is in the region of 1.3 million barrels of oil per day. Production is forecast to increase to between 2.5 million and 6.2 million barrels per day by 2020. Oil companies have announced plans to increase production to 7 million barrels per day.

Canada has proven reserves of 174 billion barrels of oil, Canada's ultimate reserves are thought to be 1.7 trillion barrels of oil. Shell, ExxonMobil, ConocoPhillips, Total and BP all have projects and expansion plans or planned developments in Canada.

The Canadian Tar Sands – The Facts

Quick Questions

1. What 3 substances is oil trapped in the tar sands?

2. How big are Canada’s proven reserves?

3. Name two companies that are investing in the Canadian tar sands.

4. What are the oil companies doing to the Canadian forest in order to get to the oil?

5. What impact is this having on the local indigenous people?

6. What is the link between this method of oil extraction and climate change?