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Transcanada restarts Keystone oil sands pipeline operations

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TransCanada Corporation said that its 590,000 barrel-per-day (bpd) capacity Keystone Pipeline system resumed transporting oil sands crude on Sunday, 5 June, after a shutdown 29 May following an above-ground spill at a pump station in Kansas involving less than 10 barrels of oil. The tar sands are estimated (e.g.,

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Understanding the variability of GHG life cycle studies of oil sands production

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In a paper published in the ACS journal Environmental Science & Technology , Stanford University assistant professor Adam Brandt reviews a number of recent life cycle assessment (LCA) studies calculating greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from oil sands extraction, upgrading, and refining pathways—the results of which vary considerably.

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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.”.

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Genome Alberta Announces Funding for Genomics Project to Reduce Environmental Impact of Oil Sands Production

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Gerrit Voordouw at the University of Calgary, will sample and explore the biological processes at work in oil wells, oils sands, tailings ponds, and coal beds. Tags: Biotech Oil sands. Genome Alberta announced C$25.2 million (US$22.2 Earlier post.).

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CERA: Canadian Oil Sands Poised to Become the Top Source of Crude Imports to the US in 2010; Could Contribute Up To 36% of US Oil and Refined Products Imports by 2030

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Growth of production of Canadian oil sands. The Canadian oil sands are now poised to become the number one source of US crude oil imports in 2010, according to new research from the IHS CERA Canadian Oil Sands Dialogue. The Role of Canadian Oil Sands in US Oil Supply”.

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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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CO 2 emissions from US coal-fired power plant could be phased out entirely by 2030 using existing technologies or ones that could be commercially competitive with coal within about a decade, according to a paper published online 30 April in the ACS journal Environmental Science & Technology. Credit: ACS, Kharecha et al.

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MIT/RAND Study Concludes Three Types of Alternative Jet Fuel May Be Available in Commercial Quantities Over the Next Decade

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The focus of the work was on alternative jet fuels that could be available commercially in the next decade using primarily North American resources. Canadian oil sands and Venezuelan VHOs have the largest potential of several hundred thousand barrels per day of jet fuel, but their use would result in increased GHG emissions.

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