Quote from Landis82:
True.
But what this thread has failed to touch upon is the fact that there are two different methods of extracting bitumen, and each one has different costs.
"1. Mining - Large areas of land are cleared of trees and brush, then the top soil and clay are removed to expose the oil sand. This surface mining method uses large trucks and shovels to remove the sand, which can have a volume of anywhere from 1-20% of actual bitumen. After processing and upgrading, the end result is sent to refineries, where it's made into gasoline, jet fuel and other petroleum products.
2. In situ - This relatively new method is mainly used to get bitumen in oil sand that is buried too deep below the earth's surface to be recovered with a truck and shovel. In situ technology injects steam deep beneath the earth to separate the viscous bitumen from the sand and pump it up to the surface. The bitumen then goes through the same upgrading process as it would in the mining method.
1. The mining method is considered to be very damaging to the environment, as it involves leveling hundreds of square miles of land, trees and wildlife. Oil companies using this method are required to return the area to its original environmental condition once the mining is completed, adding further to costs.
2. The in situ method is more costly than the mining method, but it's much less damaging to the environment, requiring only a few hundred meters of land and a nearby water source to operate.
It's estimated by the Alberta government that 70-80% of oil in the oil sands is buried too deep for open pit mining; therefore, in situ methods will likely be the future of extracting oil from oil sands. The most common form of in situ is called Steam Assisted Gravity Drainage (SAGD)."
