Extracting oil from sand, a photo essay

Not all the oil produced in the sands is mined

This is the hot new way they're extracting more oil from the sands than anyone imagined

The link there takes you to a short page, with another link to here:
http://www.businessi...-oil-sands-2012-5

There are two ways to separate the Alberta oil from the sand it's glued to. The way it's been done since the '60s is to basically strip mine huge swathes of land, separate the crude, and dump the waste off to the side. It's as ugly as it is spectacular to behold, it turns out, but that's not what's causing this new boom.

The new oil sands explosion is somewhat similar to the fracking boom here in the states and doesn't involve open mines at all. In the new process, actually called drilling not mining, holes are bored, pipes are run, and through various miracles of technology oil that was never expected to be pulled sees the light of day.

...

Oil sand drilling basically works like this: Twin vertical holes are bored down 800 meters, where they turn sharply horizontal and continue a 1,200 meter path parallel to the surface.

The shaft closest to the the surface delivers high-pressure steam that warms the surrounding bitumen enough to get it seeping into the vacant shaft below. When that line fills with oil, it's drawn to the surface where it gets separated from the remaining earth and water.

Post #358,048 by dmcarls 5/25/12 11:05:49 PM Reply	Extracting oil from sand, a photo essay The scale is immense! http://www.businessi...yover-2012-5?op=1
Post #358,050 by Another Scott 5/25/12 11:24:54 PM Reply	Thanks.
Post #358,062 by mmoffitt 5/26/12 6:48:41 AM Reply	The new way looks a lot better. Thanks!
Post #358,072 by drook 5/26/12 11:12:32 AM Reply	New way? -- Drew
Post #358,077 by SpiceWare 5/26/12 2:26:16 PM Reply	after the last photo Not all the oil produced in the sands is mined This is the hot new way they're extracting more oil from the sands than anyone imagined The link there takes you to a short page, with another link to here: http://www.businessi...-oil-sands-2012-5 There are two ways to separate the Alberta oil from the sand it's glued to. The way it's been done since the '60s is to basically strip mine huge swathes of land, separate the crude, and dump the waste off to the side. It's as ugly as it is spectacular to behold, it turns out, but that's not what's causing this new boom. The new oil sands explosion is somewhat similar to the fracking boom here in the states and doesn't involve open mines at all. In the new process, actually called drilling not mining, holes are bored, pipes are run, and through various miracles of technology oil that was never expected to be pulled sees the light of day. ... Oil sand drilling basically works like this: Twin vertical holes are bored down 800 meters, where they turn sharply horizontal and continue a 1,200 meter path parallel to the surface. The shaft closest to the the surface delivers high-pressure steam that warms the surrounding bitumen enough to get it seeping into the vacant shaft below. When that line fills with oil, it's drawn to the surface where it gets separated from the remaining earth and water.
Post #358,080 by drook 5/26/12 3:26:15 PM Reply	Thanks ... freakin' javascript navigation I got to a default front page, couldn't find the followup story. -- Drew
Post #358,076 by Andrew Grygus 5/26/12 12:58:38 PM Reply	Well, I'm glad to see Caterpillar is well represented there . . since I have some Caterpillar stock. Probably not a lot of it, but, you know, every dollar counts.
Post #358,085 by Ashton 5/26/12 6:45:41 PM Reply	Most informative We may next wait for ... the other shoe ... to drop. (Encouraging that, if they aren't shining us on Too much: they seem to reclaim/directly reuse 90% of the humongous amount of processing water.) As to what remains in that final sludge.. .hr Law above fear, justice above law, mercy above justice, love above all.

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