The July 7, 2008 Oil and Gas Journal features several pieces on the Canadian oil sands.   I’m not going to attempt to summarize it all; much is technical information regarding the various ways to treat bitumen which is what you get out of oil sands before starting to refine it.   Interested persons can get a copy on line or by mail.

Let me simply summarize a few points that are relevant to  investors. 

  First, total Canadian oil sands production is expected to grow from the current 1.32 mb/d to 3.23 mb/d …

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Just a quick note that there are two potentially game changing technologies for extracting liquids from deep oil sands where mining is not appropriate.  The incumbent method, SAGD - steam assisted gravity drainage.  As the name describes it calls for burying two parallel pipes, heating a liquid in the top one which then heats the sand below it, which liquifies the bitumen in the sands which then drips into the lower pipe from which it is brought to the surface.   That requires a lot of natural gas for heating …

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An extensive research report published in the Globe and Mail discusses the importance of water to extracting oil from the oil sands.  A key assertion is this: ” The degree of water use directly reflects the quality of ore recovered, says Bruce Peachey, president of New Paradigm Engineering in Edmonton. “We are presently mining the best ores. But as clay content increases, the volume of water needed in production will increase. So this is the good time for water.”

Water may well be a limiting factor in the growth of oil …

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PetroBank Energy and Resources Ltd. (TSX:PBG), which plans to expand its foothold in Alberta‘s oilsands next year, will be able to do so at half the cost of other operators thanks to its patented technology, the company‘s vice president for heavy oil said Monday.

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Petrobank Plans C$225 Million Oil-Sands Project (Update2) By Ian McKinnon Dec. 21 (Bloomberg) — Petrobank Energy and Resources Ltd., the best performing energy stock this year in Canada, plans to spend C$225 million ($226.4 million) to develop an oil-sands project in northern Alberta. The first commercial phase of the Whitesands project will be designed to produce 15,000 barrels of oil a day from Alberta’s tar-like deposits, Chief Executive Officer John Wright said in a telephone interview. Output will eventually be expanded to as much as …

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Press Release - 28 November 2007 Massive Canadian oilfield could be exploited using new UK system A new method developed in Britain over the past 17 years for extracting oil is now at the forefront of plans to exploit a massive heavy oilfield in Canada. Duvernay Petroleum is to use the revolutionary Toe-to-Heel Air Injection (THAI™) system developed at the University of Bath at its site at Peace River in Alberta, Canada. Unlike conventional light oil, heavy oil is very viscous, like syrup, or even solid …

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Air injection is officially underway at the first ever field pilot of a technology that proponents say could replace steam assisted gravity drainage (SAGD) as the production method of choice for unconventional oil in situ. However, although toe to heel air injection (THAI) could hold great promise for the future of Alberta’s oilsands, if successful its potential applications could stretch far beyond the borders of the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin (WCSB). read full article

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Petrobank Energy and Resources is producing oil using a patented new process called toe to heel air injection (THAI) that’s been developed in a remarkably short time. Read full article

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THAI™ is a evolutionary new combustion process, that combines a vertical air injection well with a horizontal production well. read full article

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