Oil sands
Classification / Non renewable
Oil sands = a mix of water, clay, sand and bitumen (heavy black oil).
- Oil sand = fossil fuels
Players / Companies = Exxon Mobil Corp., Total SA, Royal Dutch Shell PLC
Governments of provinces = governments of Alberta and Saskatchewan.
Availability /
As we see on this map, oil sands are found mostly in Canada, the Middle East and Venezuela. Saudi Arabia has the biggest oil barrels reserve (265 billion), whereas Mexico has the smallest one (10 billion), if we are referring to this map. Nevertheless, oil sands are found in very large quantities (around 2 trillion barrels).
Advantages /
- Large supply available (America, Africa, Asia): which makes it the 2nd largest oil field in the world and thus an important source of energy.
- Ecological advantage:
- GHG emissions are minimal compared to what other countries release with other types of energies, as we see it on the map below:
-> Oil sands represent only 0.15% of the total GHG emissions (all sources of energy together) worldwide. This shows us that this source of energy is cleaner than most of the fossil fuels energy, mostly used in China, for example, as shown on the map.
- Economic advantage:
- Important economic resource in Canada – one in 16 jobs in Alberta is linked to energy = creates jobs, mostly targeted towards Native Americans, who live in Northern Canadian provinces such as Alberta
- This map shows us how much is invested in oil sands; the maintenance of oil sands is key, in order for it to keep being rentable:
- Stable source of energy, since it is the 2nd biggest oil field in the world = no possible risk of running out of oil sands at a human scale
Disadvantages /
- Ecological disadvantages:
- Destructive: need to use important machinery, which is risky and expensive as well => destructs boreal land and forests around (Alberta)
-> This map shows us how large the boreal forests are and therefore, the danger that the exploitation of oil sands not far from them represents.
- Cause water pollution - hydrocarbons are needed to dilute the oil sands and therefore, it causes important water pollution, as well as important water waste (3:1 ratio) -> 3 million gallons of toxic runoff; water necessary for 1 gallon of oil= 2 to 4.5 times the amount of the gallon
- Complex process of exploitation - extraction and separation processes to separate the different elements that make up the oil sands (clay, bitumen and water)
- Enormous quantities of GHG emissions - Canada's number one source of CO2 emissions