Tag: Oil Sands

Keystone XL Pipeline gets a powerful new supporter and loses a powerful adversary all in one day.

The Former head of the US Geological Survey (USGS), now editor-in-chief ofScience magazine (Marcia McNutt), looked at the economics and re-evaluated her position on the Keystone XL project. She now endorses building a pipeline to transport crude oil from Canada’s oil sands to the United States.

Listen to the full NPR interview with Ms. McNutt.

Marcia McNutt discusses in the interview with NPR, that if the Keystone XL pipeline were not built, the oil would be carried by rail and road tankers, which would be more environmentally damaging.

Suncor increases sand tar oil production; using rail instead of pipeline to move product

The New York Times reports that Suncor, a leading Canadian oil sands producer, will increase production in 2014.  The company anticipates using rail instead of pipeline to move oil to its refineries.

The Suncor website provides a detailed description of the oil sands process.

 

From their website:

Near Fort McMurray, Alta., Suncor recovers bitumen from oil sands through its mining and in situ operations. The bitumen from both operations is then upgraded to refinery-ready feedstock and diesel fuel.

The in situ process uses  horizontal wells to reach the oil sands ore. The top well injects steam to heat the reservoir, allowing the bitumen to flow to the lower well where it is collected and piped to upgrading facilities.  Graphic: