What Is Oil Sand?

Thick, sticky and seriously lucrative, tar pits have become increasingly fascinating to energy companies over the past few decades. These bituminous wells are also known as ‘oil sands’ and as the name suggests, they’re major targets for companies in search of ‘black gold.’

Pits of ‘black gold’

The oil that lies within the pits doesn’t simply flow from geysers or volcano-esque spouts. Instead, it’s located in the sand itself. According to scientists, most oil sands are made up of a mixture of elements. 90% consists of clay, sand and water, while the remaining 10% is the bitumen that oil thirsty companies are after. The sand resembles the appearance of topsoil, with a dark colour and a sticky texture. When temperatures are warm the sands become viscous, while cooler weather sees them freeze into a concrete like form.    

Sought after sand

So what’s so special about bitumen? Made up of a mixture of hydrocarbons, the element is essentially natural petroleum. As mentioned previously temperature effects its state, with bitumen existing in both solid and semisolid forms, depending on the climate.

In order to turn the contents of tar pits into a marketable commodity companies must separate the bitumen from the majority of the clay, sand and water. It can then be sold on as oil for a healthy profit. Across the globe oil sands play host to over 2 trillion barrels of oil. However despite the huge amounts that are up for grabs, most will never be harvested as its simply too deep to reach.  

The tar pits of Canada

Of course, that hasn’t stopped countries from tapping into what they can access. Canada is home to a thriving oil sands industry, producing almost half a million barrels of sand derived synthetic oil on a daily basis. In Alberta alone scientists estimate that there are around 300 billion barrels worth of recoverable oil on hand. As new technologies are developed the nation will be able to retrieve even more of its oil sand stash.

While Canada may be one of the world’s biggest oil sand producers, it’s also committed to keeping oil related activities as green as possible. ‘State-Of-The-Art  Level Monitoring with Existing Instrumentation’ explores the work of Newalta, a North American resource recovery and environmental services provider that collects, consolidates and processes industrial waste from across Canada and some bordering US states. At the company’s Toronto based HQ eco-specialists manage the treatment and disposal of non-hazardous industrial waste, including wastewater generated from oil sands projects.

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