Subject BITUMINOUS MATERIALS;CANADA;CARBONACEOUS MATERIALS;ENERGY SOURCES;FOSSIL FUELS;FUELS;NORTH AMERICA;PROCESSING;RESOURCES;WELLS
Description/
Abstract Imperial Oil Ltd of Canada is negotiating to begin extracting oil sands from an Alberta project that could yield 145,000 barrels a day.^Covered by several hundred feet of overburden, the deposits are too deep for the surface mining techniques used at other oil sands projects.^An experimental steam injection process which uses wells to heat the deposits and permits recovery of the hydrocarbon portion has been demonstrated for several years.^The new project will entail enlarging and upgrading the prototype.^Energy and water requirements will make the process one of the world`s most energy-intensive in spite of conservation efforts.^Project planners must choose between using the liquid-bitumen feed, coal, or nuclear energy as fuels for heating the deposits.^If liquid plant feed is used, the net output will be reduced nearly 20 percent.^Of the 900,000 barrels of water needed daily, process water will be recycled and residual water injected into underground formations.^A ``Flexicoking`` process will be used to draw up the oil and gasify the coke output.^Recent taxes to ensure world price levels for heavy oils will require further negotiations between the oil company and the Alberta government.
Country of
Publication United States
Language English
Format Pages: 30-32
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