Oil sands simple english wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Oil sand production processes 1st edition elsevier. The nook book ebook of the oil sand production processes by james g. Methods of exploration and production of petroleum resources. History of development, prospects for the future summary when it comes to future reliable oil supplies, canadas oil sands will likely account for a greater share of u. Bitumen can be extracted using two methods, depending on how deep the deposits are below the surface. The test separator will be equipped with an inline water cut analyzer and meters to measure liquid and vapour flow.
Department of energy, have shown that tar sands is significantly more greenhouse gas intensive. The joint venture uses closedloop solvent extraction process originally proven by xtrac energy in wyoming in 1998, with a fullscale production plant. This book is by no means a complete description on the detailed design of any part of this process, and many details have been omitted in order to summarize a vast subject. Oil sands are either loose sands or partially consolidated sandstone containing a naturally occurring mixture of sand, clay, and water, soaked with a dense and extremely viscous form of petroleum technically referred to as bitumen. Transforms the patterns that are discovered into production rules that can be used to anticipate the performance of different ore types. World energy outlook, projects that by 2035 several new oil types will replace the loss of nearly onehalf of global conventional oil production. Canadian oil sands daily production forecast by scenario. There are two ways to extract bitumen from the oil sands. Heavy oil and tar sand bitumen 7 reflected in the differences observed in various recovery processes as well as in the price variations between conventional crude oil types, the heavy oils, and tar sand bitumen tables 1. Speight phd, dsc, in oil sand production processes, 20. A typical oil sands deposit in alberta contains on average about 10% bitumen, 5% water and 85% solids, mostly in the form of coarse silica sand.
The combination of global warming and peak oil has made finding alternative sources of energy more important than ever. Soon, oil had replaced most other fuels for motorized transport. Move dig oil sand is scooped out cleaning sand is mixed with naphtha to remove remaining minerals and water extract sand is separated form sand and water in a tank transportation to refineries oil sands crude bitumen. Second, sagd and a process involving steam injection with. Oil sands production supports thousands of american jobs and is a major. Sand production is a function of 1 the absence of clay minerals and cementation materials, 2 the viscosity of the oil, 3 the producing water cut and gor, and 4 the rate of pressure drawdown chugh et al. Permeability refers to the capacity of a porous, sediment, soil or rock in this case to transmit a fluid. Separators are used in many other locations other than wellhead production batteries, such as gasoline. Despite this range many parts of the process is quite similar in principle.
Find out more about canadas oil resources and canadas oil production. Environmental consequences of oil production from oil sands. Written in an easytoread format, oil sands production processes provide the reader with an understandable overview of the che. The production of bitumen from oil sands via the hot water extraction process consumes a significant amount of water and produces a significant amount of mineral wastes. How tar sands oil is produced high oil prices and technological advances have made it economically viable to ramp up oil production from canadas tar sands. Oil production and processing facilities pf4 petroskills. The material has been compiled from various online resources, as well as abb and customer documents. The automobile industry developed at the end of the 19th century, and quickly adopted oil as fuel. These mechanisms operate at different scales with different effects. Gasoline engines were essential for designing successful. Api gravity hydrocarbon, usually referred to as distillate or condensate. This document serves as a guide for potential developers and producers of oil sands, and to outline the regulatory processes the oil sands division of the government of alberta has implemented in. These two oil sands processes techniques are described in more detail below. Clear and rigorous, oil shale production process will prove useful for those scientists and engineers already engaged in fossil fuel science and technology as well as scientists, nonscientists, engineers, and nonengineers who wish to gain a general overview or update of the science and technology of.
Among the strategies employed by the tar sands campaign are legal action, putting land and marine access offlimits in the name of pr otecting wildlife habitat, fomenting first nations opposition and leveraging their constitut ional. The production of one barrel of synthetic crude oil requires about 2 tons of oil sand and several barrels of water some of which can be recycled, and successfully removes about 75% of the bitumen from the sand mixture. Prediction of heavyoil viscosities with a simple correlation. Gas occurs in two forms, associated gas a byproduct of oil production, extracted via oil fields, and nonassociated gas, which is extracted separately to oil i. Oil sands account for about 46% of canadas total oil production and oil sands production. Pdf an overview of oil sand tar sand extraction and processing. Albertas oil sands has the third largest oil reserves in the world, after venezuela and saudi arabia. Purchase oil sand production processes 1st edition. In a distributed production system this would be called the gathering system. The large volume 15 to 20 billion barrels generated annually in the u. Sand production is the initiative of various problems related to the oil and gas industry that adversely affect the completion process. The hydrocarbon resource found in canadas oil sands is called bitumen. In this paper the physicomathematical models of the main processes associated with sand production are presented.
Shale oil and gas are exactly the same products as oil and natural gas from conventional extraction. Pdf oil sands also known as tar sands are naturally occurring. During extraction, the oil sand ore is crushed into small pieces, filtered through screens and then mixed with hot water. Albertas athabasca oil sands deposit contains over 300 billion barrels of oil reserves. Because it does not flow like conventional crude oil, it must be mined or heated underground before it can be processed. Tar sands crude oil health effects of a dirty and destructive fuel pdf tar sands crude oil. Clear and rigorous, oil sand production processes will prove useful for those scientists and engineers already engaged in fossil fuel science and technology as well as scientists, nonscientists, engineers, and nonengineers who wish to gain a general overview and update of the science and technology of unconventional fossil fuels in general and oil sands in particular. A liquid extractant is heated and then pumped, under pressure, into the reaction chamber through a plurality of jet inlets to suspend the oil sand in the. Also included are a number of utility systems, not part of the actual process, but providing energy, water, air or some other utility to the plant. The tar sands campaign against the overseas export of. Processes oil sands produced bitumen into a lighter synthetic crude oil. These deposits cannot be tapped with standard production methods e.
This paper is to be presented at the petroleum societys canadian international petroleum conference 2001, calgary, alberta. Our oil sands business recovers bitumen through surface mining and steam injection technologies and upgrades it into refineryready crude oil products. Taylor encyclopedia of life support systems eolss 3. However, both low pressure oil wells and high pressure gasdistillate wells may contain free water.
Shale oil costs more than conventional oil to extract. Pdf oil and gas production technology training manual. He currently resides by the lake in wakaw, saskatchewan. The most common in situ method is called steam assisted gravity drainage sagd. Oil and gas are chemicals made just of two elements. Health effects of a dirty and destructive fuel pollutants in the water the majority of tar sands oil production takes place in close proximity to the northflowing. The production of one barrel of synthetic crude oil requires about 2 tons of oil sand and several barrels of water some of which can be recycled, and successfully removes about 75% of the bitumen from the sand. Bitumen can be described a viscous dark brown to black solid. Mar 26, 2015 in situ refers to methods of oil sands production that use drilling and steam to produce bitumen.
Oil sands also contain fine solids and clays, typically in the range of 10 to 30% by weight. The athabasca oil sands, also known as the athabasca tar sands, are large deposits of bitumen or extremely heavy crude oil, located in northeastern alberta, canada roughly centred on the boomtown of fort mcmurray. These oil sands, hosted primarily in the mcmurray formation, consist of a mixture of crude bitumen a semisolid rocklike form of crude oil, silica sand, clay minerals, and water. Dec 16, 2016 oil sands are a mixture of sand, water, heavy oil and other minerals. Crude bitumen production mined and in situ totaled about 2. Although insitu production traditionally had lower recovery rates, recent advancements in. The constituents of oil sand are sand, siltclay particles, heavy oils, minerals and water. Conventional oil production refers to the extraction of petroleum consisting of crude oil. While approximately 20 percent of total recoverable oil sand reserves are close enough to the surface to be recovered through surface mining, the vast majority of oil sands deposits and all conocophillips canadas reserves average depths of 1,300 feet below the surface. V methods of exploration and production of petroleum resources ione l. The oil is in the form of bitumen, a very heavy liquid or sticky black solid with a low melting temperature. Canadas total oil production and oil sands production is increasing.
A system for extracting bitumen from oil sands includes an extractor tank having a reaction chamber. Oil sands deposits are found around the world, including venezuela, the united states and russia, but the athabasca deposit in alberta is the largest, most developed and uses the most technologically advanced production processes. Case study of shale oil production abstract shale oil or retort oil is rapidly emerging as a significant unconventional fuel in usa and successfully found a place in the world energy mix. Guidelines on sand erosion and erosioncorrosion management first edition june 2017 published by energy institute, london the energy institute is a professional membership body incorporated by royal charter 2003. Refineries process increasingly higher sulfur crude oils. The production of shale oil lowered the current crude oil prices proved that this type of viable energy. A project proposal on simulation on oil production from steam flooding process in heavy oilsand reservoirs.
Clear and rigorous, oil sand production processes will prove useful for those scientists and engineers already engaged in fossil fuel science and technology as well as scientists, nonscientists, engineers, and nonengineers who wish to gain a general overview and update of the science and technology of unconventional fossil fuels in general. The future of the canadian oil sands oxford institute for energy. The production of bitumen from oil sands via the hot water extracti on process consumes a significant amount of water and produces a significant amount of mineral wastes. If oil or gas does not come to the surface in the drilling mud, tests can be taken to pinpoint the petroleum containingformations. The accessible ore of oil sands is located 50 to 200 m from the surface. Comparing venezuelan and canadian heavy oil and tar sands. An input port is provided at the upper end of the extractor tank for the purpose of introducing oil sand into the reaction chamber.
Aug 08, 2019 hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, opened up more natural gas for production, but the technology added costs to the oil extraction process. The tar sands campaign aims to get pipeline projects cancelled definitively or to stall them indefinitely. The production process is very energy consuming so that the net energy gain is much smaller compared to traditional oil. Extraction process according to wright 2014, the extraction process a sequence of processes namely. Abstract process economics program report 266 heavy oil. Coupled reservoir well model of sand production processes. Oil sands, tar sands, crude bitumen, or more technically bituminous sands, are a type of unconventional petroleum deposit.
This involves pretreating the bitumen with hydrogen. Such sources include tar sands in venezuela and canada as well as oil shales. Upstream systems for gas, oil, produced water and sand. Guidelines on sand erosion and erosioncorrosion management. Oil and gas production in the us over 3 billion barrels of crude oil produced in 2014 50% increase since 2009 17% of production offshore was 30% in 2010 texas, north dakota, california over 27 trillion cubic feet of gas produced in 2014 25% increase since 2009 5% of production offshore texas, pennsylvania. Typically, crude oil quality has an effect on the recovery process insofar as. Case study oil sands block models are typically populated with.
This contrasts with a conventional gas reservoir produced from sands and carbonates such as. Taylor encyclopedia of life support systems eolss in figure 1 may need to be repeated many times before a successful venture that moves forward to steps 4 through 7 is achieved. The slurry is transported via pipeline hydrotransport to the bitumen extraction. Us20256092a1 oil from oil sands extraction process. First, both sagd and cyclic steam processes, loosely based on the whiterocks resource characteristics, were modeled. Many residents in western north dakota are familiar with the process of petroleum oil and gas exploration and production. Due to the difference in depth, recovery of oil sands ore calls for different techniques. Canadian naturals horizon oil sands is located 70 kilometres north of fort mcmurray, where canadian natural owns and. Pdf characterization of an oil sand ore and process streams. Bitumen is extracted from mined oil sands using a water intensive process known as hot water extraction clark, 1944. Oil sands are found in 16 major deposits around the world, the two greatest being canadas athabasca deposit and venezuelas orinoco deposit. The microscopic plants and animals that lived in the ocean millions of years ago sank to the bottom of the sea.
Pdf an overview of oil sand tar sand extraction and. Canadas oil sands a worldscale hydrocarbon resource. December 20 42 process description grizzly oil sands ulc 4. The purpose of the gosp is to process the well flow into clean marketable products. Oil sands processes the accessible ore of oil sands is located 50 to 200 m from the surface. This statistic shows the forecasted production of the canadian oil sands from 2014 to 2039, in million barrels per day, under different scenarios. However, the nations use of energy and advancing production technologies have produced an upsurge in exploration into new areas of north dakota where residents are not familiar with the process.
Oil sand is a naturally occurring mixture of sand, clay or other minerals, water, and bitumen. Brief but readable, heavy oil production processes discusses the latest improvements in production processes including. Tar sands also called oil sands are a mixture of sand, clay, water, and bitumen. This inline technology reduces the size, weight, footprint and cost of the gas dehydration.
Automation solutions for oil sands operations helping to achieve operational readiness andritz helps oil sand operations around the world bridge the gap between concept and production to help them achieve operational readiness quickly, safely, reliably, and ahead of the curve. Numerical simulation of insitu production of utah oil sands numerical simulation of these processes can give insight into the potential of the resources of interest. Sand production is often observed during the development of weakly consolidated reservoirs. Albertas oil sands proven reserves equal about 165. Oil and gas production in the united states upstream oil and gas emission sources estimating emissions from upstream sources oil and gas emission estimates in the nei future plans use and application of the nonpoint oil and gas emission estimation tool. Havard devold oil and gas production handbook an introduction. Oil sand is a sandstone deposit that is impregnated with a heavy, viscous bituminous. Heavy oil development is becoming increasingly important because of the continuous decline in conventional oil production. For heavy oil reservoirs, the oil viscosity usually varies dramatically during production processes such as in thermal processes. The utah oil sands joint venture is a joint venture between nevtah capital management, inc. Written in an easytoread format, oil sands production processes provide the. Alberta bitumen production 199420076 0 200 400 600 800 1,000 1,200 1,400.
A decision on whether a well is productive or nonproductive is made when drilling reaches the precalculated producing zones. First, at the slurry preparation plant water is added to the mined oil sands ore to obtain a slurry with a density of 1500 kg m. When producing heavy oil, the high viscosity is a major impediment to recovery. Oil sands, also known as tar sands, are sediments or sedimentary rocks composed of sand, clay minerals, water, and bitumen. Produced water is the largest waste stream from oil and natural gas production. Oil sands production is both energy and water intensive. The various chapters have been written to include the latest developments in the oil sands industry, including evolving and new processes as well as the various environmental regulations. The remainder of the figure is the actual process, often called the gas oil separation plant gosp. Oil sands brochure fact sheet ressources naturelles canada. Making liquid fuels from oil sands requires much energy and produces 12 percent more greenhouse gases per barrel of final product than production of traditional oil. James g speight the combination of global warming and peak oil has made finding alternative sources of energy more important than ever. Commercialscale production from albertas oil sands started in 1967 when the great canadian oil sands now. Historical bitumen and synthetic crude oil production while western canadian conventional heavy oil production is in decline, bitumen production from albertas oil sands has been increasing as illustrated in figure 31. Pdf a project proposal on simulation on oil production.
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