Oil Ananvir Puar

Oil Leading source of energy largely due to its use in the transportation sector Like natural gas, it is found in all areas of the world except Antarctica and in some areas like the Persian Gulf in the Middle East that have huge reserves of oil

What are oil sands? Pockets of oil-soaked sand from which oil can be extracted Mixture of sand, clay, water, and a very dense semi- solid petroleum called bitumen In its natural state, bitumen is like cold honey than liquid oil making it harder to separate because it requires more natural energy Methods of extracting deeper deposits require heating deep pockets in a process called “in-situ” In coming decades, an estimated 20% of the oil extraction will involve open-pit mining and 80% will consist of in-situ recovery

Alberta Oil Sands Largest and currently the most developed deposits on the planet Along the Athabasca River valley, beneath the muskeg bog- land lies vast stores of oil sands Deposits make up 97% of Canada’s current oil reserves The area is one of the largest oil producers in the world China recently invested 4.65 billion dollars in the oil sands Since China has invested, it puts pressure on Canada to approve the controversial Northern Gateway Pipeline that would run from Alberta to the deep water port of Kitimat, BC The pipeline would allow oil tankers to transport oil to China and other Asian markets

Oil companies set sights on 5 million barrels a day In 2010, close to 1.5 million barrels of oil was extracted from the Alberta Oil Sands each day By 2020, if the process remains the same, it will increase to 5 million barrels a day Due to the extraction of oil, thousands of kilometers of Alberta’s landscape is turning into toxic waste ponds and mounds of contaminated mine waste Oil companies promised “all Canadians” that the mess will be cleaned up once the oil is extracted and the land will again be inhabitable by birds and animal species

Extraction of oil Nearly a billion cubic feet of natural gas daily is used to heat water and create steam that is used to separate the oil from the sand, which isn’t an easy task Extraction for Alberta’s oil sands consumes vast volumes of fresh water from the Athabasca River

Athabasca River The Athabasca River is being contaminated by toxins by tailings ponds Health concerns were raised for people at Fort Chipewyan Health officials were certain that these toxins came from the oil sands, yet the Canadian government denied that the sands has anything to do with toxic river levels Cancer cases escalated after the oil sands operations started decades ago and in 2010 they increased even more The river now contains extremely high levels of mercury and arsenic and all sources of food for species showed high levels of contamination

Tailings Ponds Also known as mine dumps Noise cannons are used to keep out water from landing in the contaminated ponds Once they malfunctioned and flocks of ducks landed in what they thought was water and sank to the bottom The ponds were toxic and gooey and resulted in 1606 migrating birds dying Oil companies said this incident was a “rare unavoidable occurrence,” causing outrage across North America and beyond

Air Pollution Syncrude (one of the biggest companies) alone is responsible for releasing more than 240 tonnes of sulphur dioxide daily Most of the air pollution taking place is invisible CO2 emissions in the country are expected to rise immensely Pollution from sands aid in global warming gases

Negative Publicity – Alberta Oil Sands Oil has been labeled “dirty” because it takes 3 times more energy to produce one barrel of oil The European Union’s new fuel ranking system considers fuel derived from the oil sands to be “highly harmful to the environment”

Negativity cont. – Rethink Alberta Cities in the U.S. and England put up billboards showing Alberta’s oil production compared to the British Petroleum oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico This campaign was called “Rethink Alberta” Billboards ask tourists to boycott Alberta because the oil extraction threatens the beauty of the province http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_dpOzvmBj8k

Transportation Since it’s a liquid, it can be transported in pipelines Another method is huge, specially built ships called super tankers

Keystone XL TransCanada Corporations pipeline systems in 2011 delivered 590,000 barrels of Canadian crude oil per day to U.S. markets As production increases, more pipelines will have to be built to carry oil to the buyers’ refineries An expansion would mean capacity would be increased to 1.3 billion barrels per day The new Keystone XL pipeline would be an extension to existing pipelines and would carry out Alberta oil as far as Texas

Concerns – Keystone XL Possible oil spills that threaten fresh water Threatened water supply due to the route being overt he Ogallala aquifer which is a fresh water source for 8 U.S. states The potential route can put ecosystems in danger

British Petroleum Gulf Oil Spill April 20, 2010, an offshore drilling rig working in deep water off the Louisiana coast exploded into a ball of flames A large bubble of concentrated methane gas ignited resulting in a series of explosions and a massive fireball that burned out of control for approx. 36 hours For 3 months, 50,000 barrels of oil escaped Nearly 5 million barrels escaped before a plan was devised to stop the spill Became the world’s largest accidental offshore oil spill Birds that got soaked by oil didn’t last long in the warm climate of the Gulf Oil got in the feathers of the birds, resulting in them not being able to fly

Reducing our dependence on oil Affordable electric cars are being mass produced by car manufacturers Gas-powered engines have been improved and are more fuel efficient New transportation fuel based on fuel and natural gas are being developed