Oil sands

Oil sands are naturally occurring mixtures of sand, clay, water, and dense bitumen. Processing separates or mobilizes the bitumen, which can be upgraded into petroleum products.

Surface mining: Surface mining removes overlying material and excavates deposits near the ground surface. It extracts shallow oil sands by removing the overburden and hauling the ore for processing.
Synthetic crude oil: Synthetic crude oil is an upgraded petroleum product made by processing heavy oil or bitumen. Upgrading oil-sands bitumen produces a lighter crude suitable for conventional refineries.
Greenhouse gas emissions: Greenhouse gas emissions are gases released into the atmosphere that absorb and re-emit infrared radiation. Extracting and processing bitumen generally emits more greenhouse gases per barrel than many lighter crude sources.
Western Canada Sedimentary Basin: The Western Canada Sedimentary Basin is a large geological basin containing sedimentary rocks and extensive petroleum resources. Its ancient petroleum deposits were transformed into the bitumen now found in Alberta’s oil sands.
Steam-assisted gravity drainage: Steam-assisted gravity drainage injects steam through paired wells to heat heavy oil, which drains into a lower production well. It recovers deep bitumen by lowering its viscosity underground.
Dilbit: Dilbit is bitumen blended with lighter hydrocarbons to reduce viscosity for pipeline transport. Blending lets unupgraded oil-sands bitumen flow through pipelines.
Tailings pond: A tailings pond is an engineered basin holding water mixed with fine solids and residual contaminants from mining operations. Oil-sands mining produces large volumes of tailings that require long-term containment.
Cretaceous period: The Cretaceous period lasted from about 145 to 66 million years ago, when dinosaurs and flowering plants flourished. Much of the source material for Alberta’s bitumen accumulated in sediments deposited during this period.
Bitumen: Bitumen is a highly viscous mixture of hydrocarbons that can occur naturally in deposits or remain after petroleum refining. It is the valuable hydrocarbon extracted from oil sands.
Heavy crude oil: Heavy crude oil is petroleum with high density and viscosity, requiring specialized production or refining. Oil-sands output belongs to the broader family of heavy crude oils.

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