article thumbnail

Study concludes permanent loss of peatlands in open-pit oil sands mining adds significantly to carbon burden of oil sands production

Green Car Congress

Researchers at the University of Alberta (Canada) have quantified the transformation of the boreal landscape by open-pit oil sands mining in Alberta, Canada to evaluate its effect on carbon storage and sequestration. Schindler (2012). Oil sands mining and reclamation cause massive loss of peatland and stored carbon.

Oil-Sands 270
article thumbnail

US DOI finalizes plan for oil shale and oil sands research, demonstration and development

Green Car Congress

Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar last week announced the Department of the Interior’s final plan for encouraging research, development and demonstration (RD&D) of oil shale and oil sands resources on Bureau of Land Management (BLM) lands in Colorado, Utah and Wyoming. Earlier post.).

Oil-Sands 225
article thumbnail

Oil sands GHG lifecycle study using operating data finds lower emitting oil sands cases outperform higher emitting conventional crude cases; a call for more sophisticated tools and reporting

Green Car Congress

Well-to-wheel (WTW) greenhouse gas emissions for in situ SAGD and surface mining pathways generated employing GHOST/TIAX/ GHGenius combination and comparison with SAGD, mining and conventional crude oil literature pathways (all results are on a HHV basis). 74% of WTW emissions in our oil sands pathways. Click to enlarge.

Oil-Sands 287
article thumbnail

Imperial Oil sanctions Kearl Oil Sands expansion project

Green Car Congress

Imperial Oil Limited’s board of directors has approved the expansion phase of the Kearl Oil Sands Project, a surface mining operation under construction northeast of Fort McMurray, Alberta. Imperial Oil’s share of the Kearl Oil Sands asset is 71%. billion (US$10.6 per barrel. billion barrel resource.

Oil-Sands 210
article thumbnail

Japex to proceed with C$1.4B Hangingstone oil sands expansion

Green Car Congress

(Japex) will proceed with an expansion of its oil sands project in the Hangingstone area in Alberta. Total costs for the initial development are anticipated to be around C$1.4 Japan Canada Oil Sands Ltd. billion (US$1.42 billion), C$1.1 Click to enlarge.

Oil-Sands 218
article thumbnail

Enbridge to build $1.3B Woodland Pipeline Extension to support Kearl oil sands project; 400kbpd initially

Green Car Congress

The project has an estimated cost of $1.3 The Woodland Pipeline Extension is being constructed to serve the Imperial Oil and ExxonMobil Kearl oil sands project and its recently announced expansion. billion to service the increasing requirements of the Alberta oil sands producers.

Oil-Sands 210
article thumbnail

Researchers propose framework for CCS infrastructure optimization to reduce GHG emissions from oil sands extraction and processing

Green Car Congress

The width of the pipeline network (green lines) is proportional to CO 2 flow; the largest CO 2 flow is approximately 36 MtCO 2 / yr for the $155/tCO 2 scenario (pipeline leaving the Athabasca oil sands area). Costs are in $US 2011. Credit: ACS, Middleton and Brandt. Click to enlarge. 15 years alone. —Middleton and Brandt.

Oil-Sands 225