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CNOOC Limited—China’s largest producer of offshore crude oil and natural gas and one of the largest independent oil and gas exploration and production companies in the world—is acquiring all of the Common Shares of Canada-based energy company Nexen Inc. billion cash. The price represents a premium of.
Canadian researchers have developed a large-scale economical method to extract hydrogen from oilsands (natural bitumen) and oil fields. The process can extract hydrogen from existing oilsands reservoirs, with huge existing supplies found in Canada and Venezuela. Proton Technologies is commercializing the process.
Researchers at the University of Calgary are developing ultra-dispersed (UD) nanocatalysts for the in situ upgrading of heavy oil and bitumen from deep reservoirs. One of the challenges of such an approach is the placement of the catalyst deep into the heavy oil plume by transporting a catalyst suspension through the sand medium.
Well-to-wheel (WTW) greenhouse gas emissions for in situ SAGD and surface mining pathways generated employing GHOST/TIAX/ GHGenius combination and comparison with SAGD, mining and conventional crude oil literature pathways (all results are on a HHV basis). 74% of WTW emissions in our oilsands pathways. Click to enlarge.
Twelve of Canada’s oilsands producers have formed a new alliance, Canada’s OilSands Innovation Alliance (COSIA), focused on accelerating the pace of improving environmental performance in Canada’s oilsands through collaborative action and innovation. The released water is recovered and recycled.
Bitumen production from the Canadian oilsands provides a point of reference that could be used to observe and better manage the land and water impacts of a rapid transition to unconventional fuels, suggests Dr. Sarah Jordaan of the Energy Technology Innovation Policy Research Group, Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Harvard University.
SOLVE adds a solvent to the steam in SAGD (basic operation depicted above) to reduce energy input and water consumption. The production well extracts the bitumen to surface heavy oil production facilities. SAGD is the predominant in-situ recovery method currently used in Canada’s oilsands. Source: StatoilHydro.
Separation of bitumen from a Canadian oilsand sample using an ionic liquid. A team of researchers at Penn State has developed a new, more environmentally friendly method of separating bitumen from oilsands utilizing ionic liquids (IL). Oilsands represent approximately two-thirds of the world’s estimated oil reserves.
The majority (62%) of the plantations were located on the island of Sumatra, and more than two-thirds (69%) of all industrial plantations were developed for oil palm cultivation, with the remainder mostly being Acacia plantations for paper pulp production. —Miettinen et al. Earlier post.).
Canadian Natural Resources (CNRL), an independent crude oil and natural gas producer, is applying a technique at its Horizon oilsands plant that uses CO 2 to change the water chemistry of the tailings, resulting in accelerated settling and greatly reduced water use.
A team of two researchers from Natural Resources Canada’s CanmetENERGY reports on a new process for solvent extraction of bitumen from mineable Athabasca oilsands (i.e., The Clark hot water extraction (CHWE) process has been applied in commercial bitumen extraction from the Athabasca oilsands for more than 40 years.
The Utah Water Quality Board, in a 9-2 vote this week, agreed with the August 2012 recommendations of an administrative law judge (ALJ) upholding a permit-by-rule issued by the Division of Water Quality (DWQ) for the proposed PR Spring an oilsands mine on state land in eastern Utah. Source: USOS, DWQ. Click to enlarge.
Alberta’s Innovative Energy Technologies Program (IETP) is supporting 5 new pilot projects to reduce energy use, water use and CO 2 emissions in oilsands processing as well as improving the recovery of crude oil and bitumen in reserves that were once unrecoverable. Imperial Oil Ltd., Imperial Oil Ltd.
A team from the University of Plymouth (UK) and Environment Canada has identified, for the first time, individual soluble naphthenic acids (NA) in the process water resulting from the oilsands industry in Canada. Frank (2011) Diamonds in the Rough: Identification of Individual Naphthenic Acids in OilSands Process Water.
Engineers at the University of Pittsburgh Swanson School of Engineering are using membrane distillation technology to enable drillers to filter and reuse the produced water in the oil and gas industry, in agriculture, and other beneficial uses. The team is back in the lab to find a fix. Desalination. doi: 10.1016/j.desal.2021.115513.
In a paper published in the ACS journal Environmental Science & Technology , Stanford University assistant professor Adam Brandt reviews a number of recent life cycle assessment (LCA) studies calculating greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from oilsands extraction, upgrading, and refining pathways—the results of which vary considerably.
GS Engineering & Construction (GS E&C) has selected GE to supply the produced water evaporation and zero liquid discharge (ZLD) system for the Blackgold OilSands project, located near Conklin, Alberta. Blackgold is owned and operated by a subsidiary of the Korean National Oil Corp.
Osum OilSands Corp. will use water treatment technologies from Veolia Water Solutions & Technologies to process produced water from its Taiga Project at Cold Lake in Alberta. The evaporator system will recover more than 93% of the water from SAGD operations for re-use in the process.
The Royal Society of Canada (RSC)—the country’s national academy of the arts, humanities and sciences—has released an expert panel report on the environmental and health impacts of the Canadian oilsands industry. Impacts on the regional water supply. Impacts on regional water quality and groundwater quantity.
the developer of a process for harvesting algae and cleaning up oil & gaswater, announced that its second original equipment manufacturer’s (OEM) agreement will target oil service companies in the Canadian oilsands market. LH was an early private investor in Athabasca Oil Corporation.
Transmitting oilsands production. Synthetic crude is produced by upgrading bitumen and is a blend of naphtha, distillate and gasoil range materials produced by hydrotreating the naphtha, distillate and gasoil generated in a delayed coking unit.).
Imperial Oil Limited has begun the initial development of the Kearl oilsands project ( earlier post ), which incorporates technology innovations to enhance environmental performance. Kearl will be the first oilsands mining operation that does not require an upgrader to make a saleable crude oil.
The Government of Canada is supporting a three-year project that will result in the construction of a $19-million, demonstration-scale facility in Alberta that will use algae to recycle industrial carbon dioxide emissions from an oilsands facility into commercial products such as biofuels. Click to enlarge.
The goal of the initiative is to transform oilsands production processes by developing technologies that address sustainability challenges. The University of Alberta, recognized as a global leader in oilsands research, will work with the Helmholtz Association, a collection of 16 science and technology centers across Germany.
Growth of production of Canadian oilsands. The Canadian oilsands are now poised to become the number one source of US crude oil imports in 2010, according to new research from the IHS CERA Canadian OilSands Dialogue. The Role of Canadian OilSands in US Oil Supply”.
This team is leveraging research in nanotechnology to reduce CO 2 emissions associated with the extraction and upgrading process, and treatment of produced water generated during the oil recovery. The materials also have the potential to be used as filters for contaminated water.
JAPEX), will postpone making a final investment decision (FID) for the Hangingstone OilSands Expansion Project ( earlier post ) in Alberta Province, Canada, based on a longer-than-expected approval process with the Alberta authorities. Japan Petroleum Exploration Co., bitumen pipelines and power transmission (by other parties).
(JAPEX) plans to invest ¥65-70 billion (US$830–893 million) in its Canadian oilsands projects, Chief Executive Osamu Watanabe told Dow Jones Newswires. China’s biggest offshore oil and gas producer, said it will buy Canadian oil-sands developer OPTI Canada Inc. Earlier Wednesday, CNOOC Ltd.,
Researchers at Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) and The University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA) have determined that biochar, a substance produced from plant matter, is a safe, effective and inexpensive method to treat flowback water following hydraulic fracturing, or fracking. —Maoqi Feng, SwRI.
Alberta’s oilsands operations accounted for 28.8% of Canadian natural gas demand in 2016, up from 11.8% From 2005 to 2016, natural gas purchased by oilsands projects more than tripled, from 0.73 In contrast, total Canadian gas demand increased over the same period from 6.17 Bcf/d in 2016.
The MSG process, under license from Idaho National Laboratory, uses a combination of molten sodium salts (sodium carbonate and sodium hydroxide) to convert a carbon feedstock and water into hydrogen. The MSG process occurs in a single high-pressure reactor in which a carbon-based feedstock and water react with a molten salt bath.
a Canadian integrated oil company, reported an increase in third quarter crude oil production year-on-year of about 4% due to oilsands production that was 14% higher compared with the same period a year earlier. Conventional oil production slightly declined due to a combination of factors. Cenovus Energy Inc.,
to proceed with its Narrows Lake oilsands project, with an ultimate gross production capacity of 130,000 barrels per day. SAP combines steam injection with solvents, such as butane, to help bring the oil to the surface. Cenovus also anticipates that SAP may increase total oil recovery by as much as 15%. Earlier post.).
Hydrogen is necessary in the upgrading of oilsands bitumen into synthetic crude, but it is a costly and carbon-intensive part of the process, given current hydrogen production technologies. MSG converts natural gas into hydrogen with a 23% reduction in GHG emissions compared to steam methane reforming. will receive a $C1.5-million
A University of Utah engineer has developed an inexpensive new method to remove oil sheen by repeatedly pressurizing and depressurizing ozone gas, creating microscopic bubbles that attack the oil so it can be removed by sand filters. Water from mining of oilsands and oil shale.
The US Department of Energy’s National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) has released a technical report on the results of a limited field study that monitored a hydraulic fracturing operation in Greene County, PA for upward fracture growth out of the target zone and upward gas and fluid migration.
Devon and BP will also form a heavy oil joint venture to develop BP’s Kirby oilsands leases in Alberta, Canada. In order to facilitate the oilsands joint venture, Devon will acquire 50% of BP’s interest in the Kirby oilsands leases. The Whiting upgrade is planned to come on-stream in 2012.
Athabasca OilSands Corp. has exercised its option to divest its 40% interest in the MacKay River oilsands project to Cretaceous Oilsands Holdings Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of PetroChina International Investment Limited, for C$680 million (US$672 million) in cash. Earlier post.) Earlier post.). Earlier post.).
Proposed anaerobic hydrocarbon biodegradation pathways in oilsands tailings. The researchers now report that higher molecular weight n -alkanes (C 14 , C 16 , and C 18 ) are also degraded under methanogenic conditions in oilsands tailings, albeit after a lengthy lag (180 days) before the onset of methanogenesis.
A team at the University of Calgary (Canada) has compared the energy intensities and lifecycle GHG emissions of unconventional oils (oilsands and oil shale) alongside shale gas, coal, lignite, wood and conventional oil and gas. Earlier post.). —Nduagu & Gates.
Gerrit Voordouw at the University of Calgary, will sample and explore the biological processes at work in oil wells, oilssands, tailings ponds, and coal beds. Manipulate microbial populations in tailings ponds to improve the bioremediation properties while decreasing greenhouse gas emissions. million (US$22.2
Royal Dutch Shell plc will proceed with its Carmon Creek project in Alberta, Canada, expected to produce up to 80,000 barrels of oil per day. Once the project is up and running the aim is to virtually eliminate the need for freshwater use for steam generation through recycling of water produced with the oil.
Comparison of the percent differential for WTW (well-to-wheel) GHGs from gasoline produced from WCSB oilsands using different production processes relative to gasoline produced from reference crudes. The proposed Project is not likely to impact the amount of crude oil produced from the oilsands.
The region includes a substantial portion of the Athabasca oilsands area, which contains approximately 82% of the province’s oilsands resource and much of the Cold Lake oilsands area. The government of Alberta, Canada has approved the Lower Athabasca Regional Plan (LARP).
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