About Alberta's Oil Sands
The Canadian oil sands play an important role in meeting global energy demand. With an estimated 170 billion barrels in oil sands reserves, they present a reserve base that is second only to Saudi Arabia.
Canada’s oil sands are found in three main regions in northern Alberta: Athabasca, Cold Lake, and Peace River. Oil sands are a mixture of sand, water, clay and bitumen. Bitumen is oil that is too thick or heavy to flow or be pumped, without being diluted or heated.
There are two types of recovery methods for the oil sands: mining and in-situ (in place). Oil sand deposits close to the surface can be mined (20% of Canada’s oil sands resources), while resources more than 75 metres below the surface require in-situ recovery (80% of Canada’s oil sands resources).
In-Situ Drilling – SAGD
Surmont Asset SAGD plant
For oil sand reserves that are too deep to be mined, bitumen is recovered using a thermal technology known as steam assisted gravity drainage (SAGD). The process has a limited environmental footprint and uses two directional wells approximately five metres apart.
Steam is injected into the upper well to lower the bitumen viscosity in the reservoir. The bitumen mixed with hot water flows to the lower well, from which it is then pumped to the surface.
In the surface processing facilities, the water is separated from the bitumen, treated and recycled to the steam generators. The bitumen is diluted and sent by pipeline for upgrading and refining.
Total E&P Canada is a 50% partner in the in-situ SAGD Surmont Asset.
Mining
On shallow leases, oil sands are mined using traditional truck and shovel mining techniques. Large shovels scoop the oil sand into trucks that then take it to crushers where the large clumps of earth are broken down. Hot water is added to create oil sand slurry. This is fed to the extraction plant, where the bitumen is separated from the other components and upgraded to create synthetic oil.
Responsible Development
Total E&P Canada is a signatory to the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers' (CAPP's) document: "Guiding Principles for Oil Sands Development." This document outlines the industry's commitment to reducing "its impact on the environment" and providing "economic benefits to society while developing this globally significant resource." Access the Guiding Principles document
at the CAPP website.
Total E&P Canada is also a founding member of the Oil Sands Leadership Initiative (OSLI). See the OSLI website or our OSLI page for more information.
