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U Calgary study finds oil shale most energy intensive upgraded fuel followed by in-situ-produced bitumen from oil sands

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A team at the University of Calgary (Canada) has compared the energy intensities and lifecycle GHG emissions of unconventional oils (oil sands and oil shale) alongside shale gas, coal, lignite, wood and conventional oil and gas. This is not the same as crude oil occurring naturally in shales, as in the Bakken.

Oil-Sands 150
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CFR Report Says Energy Security and Climate Change Concerns With Oil Sands Can be Reconciled

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Oil sands supply chain. A new report from the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR)— The Canadian Oil Sands: Energy Security vs Climate Change — claims that prudent greenhouse gas regulations can limit emissions from Canadian oil sands while still enabling robust development of the energy resource.

Oil-Sands 150
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Researchers Suggest That Although CCS and Other Technologies Could Reduce Oil Sands GHG Emissions to Near Zero, That Strategy May Not Make Sense

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Examples of emerging oil sands related technologies and trade-offs. The paper is an examination of how various choices about the scale of the life cycle analysis applied to oil sands (i.e., The source material is neither oil nor tar but bitumen, but is most generally described as an example of ultraheavy oil.”.

Oil-Sands 225
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Study finds that native microbes biodegrade longer-chain hydrocarbons in oil sands tailings to methane; implications for management of tailings and GHG emissions from tailings ponds

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Proposed anaerobic hydrocarbon biodegradation pathways in oil sands tailings. The researchers now report that higher molecular weight n -alkanes (C 14 , C 16 , and C 18 ) are also degraded under methanogenic conditions in oil sands tailings, albeit after a lengthy lag (180 days) before the onset of methanogenesis.

Oil-Sands 186
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Study finds that switch to heavy and synthetic crude oils could double or triple refinery emissions

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Increasing crude processing intensity and energy intensity with worsening oil quality. OQ: Crude feed oil quality. Switching to heavy crude oil and synthetic crude oil derived from oil sands bitumen in refineries could double or triple refinery emissions and add 1.6-3.7 PI: Crude processing intensity.

Oil 287
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12 Environmental Organizations Urge Closing of Potential Tar Sands Loophole in EU Draft Fuel Quality Directive

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However, the organizations point out in their letter , in developing a methodology for calculating emissions from fuel, the Commission has proposed setting just one default emissions value for oil-derived gasoline and one for diesel. Letter to Commissioner Hedegaard.

Oil-Sands 199
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Researchers Say Mix of Policies and Current or Near-Term Technologies Could Phase Out US CO2 Emissions from Coal-Fired Power Plants by 2030

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Lead author Kharecha and colleagues note that current climate science indicates that atmospheric CO 2 concentrations, already at 387 ppm in 2009 and rising, need to be reduced to no more than 350 ppm. Readily available reserves of oil and gas are sufficient to take atmospheric CO 2 to at least 400 ppm. Architecture 2030.

Coal 239