excavating the alberta oil sands with public justice
DESCRIPTION
John Hiemstra\'s presentation on Alberta Oil Sands. See the video from the presentation at http://cpj.blip.tv/#1036772.TRANSCRIPT
Overview of oil sands developments!
The Scope and the Challenge
North East Alberta
Bitumen Deposits =140,200 sq km
Size…
largest known hydrocarbon deposit 1.7 to 2.5 trillion barrels in deposit 2nd largest petroleum reserves in the world
(Saudi Arabia has largest) 175 billion barrels of bitumen deemed
recoverable (15% of the world reserves) With newer technologies, up to 2.5 trillion
barrels might be recovered
Geographical Comparison
larger than the state of Florida 2 X size of New Brunswick 4.5 X size of Vancouver Island greater than the entire country of Honduras
(112,088 sq. km)
Current production
Currently, 1.1 million barrels bitumen/day about 1/3 Alberta’s total oil production expected to rise to 2.7 million barrels / day by
2015 oil sands could supply Canada’s energy
needs for 475 years or total world needs for up to 15 years
Future Potential
Currently industry recovers 1.1 million barrels of bitumen / day
= about 1/3 Alberta’s total oil production expected to rise to 2.7 million barrels / day by
2015 oil sands could supply Canada’s energy needs
for more than 475 years or total world needs for up to 15 years
Open pit mining method
Open pit mining:
19% of reserve close to the surface ‘truck and shovel mining’ method move enough ‘overburden’ [sic] and oil sands
every 2 days to fill Toronto’s Skydome 2 tonnes must be dug up, moved and
processed to produce 1 barrel of oil
Extraction, processing and end-products
hot water extraction technique is used to separate bitumen from oil sands
75% of the bitumen can be recovered from sand
70% used for transport fuels—gasoline, diesel, jet fuel
Pipelines through Jasper
Massive tailings ponds
2nd largest dam in the world
Sometimes directly beside the Athabasca River
Forest reclamation
Alternative extraction methods
81% of oil sands reserves too deep to be open pit mined (deeper than 75 metres)
other processes are being developed leading process, at the moment, are in situ
steam operations E.g. Steam-Assisted Gravity Drainage
(SAGD).
Economic impacts
Alberta GDP was $183 billion (2006) GDP growth rate of 6.6% Alberta unemployment rate 3.4 % (March 2008) CPI Inflation Rate 3.5 % (Jan 2008) Alberta’s GDP per capita was $58,394 45% above Canadian average of $40,351 40% above second place Ontario $100B investment expected between 2000-2020
Where are we going?