School assignment regarding Alberta's oil sands

[Xist]

I do not know if anyone is interested, if not, I hope that I do not waste your time, but this extra credit opportunity was offered last week. I spent several sleep-deprived hours working on this, but ran out of time.

Like everything else that I do, it took way too long, and I really wanted to explore this further, I just did not have the time.

Our instructions were:

Choose an "energy town" and develop its "geography of energy". Pick one of the following: Uranium City, Saskatchewan; Ft. McMurray, Alberta; Houston, Texas; Farmington, New Mexico; Gillette, Wyoming; Baku, Azerbaijan; Stavanger, Norway; Port Harcourt, Nigeria; Calgary, Alberta; Perth, Australia; Abu Dhabi, UAE; Aberdeen, Scotland.

You are responsible for working out what should be included, but remember that geography is a “spatial” science that concentrates on the surface of the Earth, so that means it could include such themes as location, distribution, siting, movement,relationships with other places, interactions between nature and society, and so forth. You may take any angle on this assignment that you want, although you should be certain to defend what you choose as fitting into the geography of the city you stress.

No more than 500 words, plus graphics
* Include source data and description of any graphs, images, etc. that you include in your paper. Don't include things and not explain to your audience why you put them in the paper!
* If you use information from another person, you MUST cite it appropriately. If you paraphrase or include any statistics, you must have the proper citation.

15 points

Save the document by your last name and put 'energy town" in the subject line.

Due: by e-mail to our TA by April 15th

I was trying to figure out how the oil sand industry affected the whole area, including the environmental effects, but everything depended on the information that I found, which was difficult. I am still not sure what "The geography of energy" is supposed to mean.

Alberta is a province in southwestern Canada that passed four million people in 2,013 (Canada, 2014) and is one of only two land-locked provinces, along with Saskatchewan to the east. It is bordered by Montana to the south, British Columbia to the west, and Northern Territories to the north. Fort McMurray is a community close to the eastern border of the province that had 76,797 residents in 2,010 (Buffalo, 2,014), on the Athabasca River. Fort McMurray is on the eastern side of the Athabasca oil sands, which occupy 54,000 of the province’s 248,000 square miles, or almost 22% (Edemariam, 2,007) (Land and freshwater area, by province and territory, 2,005). Oilsands Review has a Canadian OILSANDS Navigator, showing bitumen and synthetic crude production for 2,011, 2,012, and 2,013 (Canadian OILSANDS Navigator, 2,013). I created a table below listing the various projects in Fort McMurray; I counted twenty-two different companies operating, with diverse names like Imperial, SinoCanada, Royal Dutch Shell, and Japan Canada Oil Sands Limited.

Much of the bitumen is processed in-situ, but it was predicted that by this year, oil sand production will reach the local coking capability (Muck and brass, 2,011). The proposed Keystone XL pipeline would initially be 1,179 miles long, connecting Hardisty, Alberta to Steele City, Nebraska, and eventually to refineries in Texas (TransCanada, 2,014). Environmentalists oppose the pipeline, but if it is not built, the product may instead be sold to countries less concerned with pollution. Processing the oil sands results in tailings, consisting of sand, leftover bitumen, water, clay, and pollutants, stored in toxic lakes, currently covering 66 square miles (Muck and brass, 2,011). The Environmental Protection and Enhancement Act (EPEA) requires these companies to return the land to “an equivalent land capability” (Reclaiming Alberta's Oil Sands, 2,013). In September of 2,010, Suncor completed reclamation of one of these lakes and promised to spend 1.2 billion Canadian dollars to deal with the rest (Muck and brass, 2,011). Processing the oil sands generates abundant CO2, 12% more than other sources (Lewis, Ljunggren, & and Jones, 2,012), but most of this pollutant comes from vehicle emissions, while other industries pollute much worse. Andrew Leach, who works for the Alberta School of Business, estimates that each tonne of CO2 from oil sands generates 500 Canadian dollars of value, compared to twenty or thirty from power plants that burn coal (Muck and brass, 2,011).

Project: Mildred Lake/Aurora
Operator: Syncrude Canada Ltd.
bbls/day of Syn Crude: 274,497
Ownership: Canadian Oil Sands Limited 36.74%
CNOOC Limited 7.23%
Imperial Oil Limited 25%
Mocal Energy Limited 5
Murphy Oil Company Ltd. 5%
SinoCanada Petroleum Corporation 9.03%
Suncor Energy Inc. 12%

Project: Base Operations
Operator: Suncor Energy Inc.
bbls/day of Syn Crude: 288,526
Ownership: Suncor Energy Inc. 100%

Project: Muskeg River
Operator: Shell Albian Sands
bbls/day of Syn Crude: N/A
Ownership: Chevron Canada Resources 20%
Marathon Oil Corporation 20%
Royal Dutch Shell plc 60%

Project: Horizon
Operator: Canadian Natural Resources Limited
bbls/day of Syn Crude: 100,852
Ownership: Canadian Natural Resources Limited 100%

Project: Jackpine
Operator: Shell Albian Sands
bbls/day of Syn Crude: N/A
Ownership: Chevron Canada Resources 20%
Marathon Oil Corporation 20%
Royal Dutch Shell plc 60%

Project: Firebag
Operator: Suncor Energy Inc.
bbls/day of Syn Crude: N/A
Ownership: Suncor Energy Inc. 100%

Project: Christina Lake - Cenovus Energy Inc.
Operator: Cenovus Energy Inc.
bbls/day of Syn Crude: ConocoPhillips
Ownership: Canada Limited 50%
Cenovus Energy Inc. 50%

Project: Jackfish
Operator: Devon Canada Corporation
bbls/day of Syn Crude: N/A
Ownership: Devon Canada Corporation 100%

Project: Long Lake
Operator: CNOOC Limited
bbls/day of Syn Crude: N/A
Ownership: CNOOC Limited 100%

Project: Mackay River
Operator: Suncor Energy, Inc.
bbls/day of Syn Crude: N/A
Ownership: Suncor Energy, Inc. 100%

Project: Christina Lake - MEG Energy Corporation
Operator: MEG Energy Corporation
bbls/day of Syn Crude: N/A
Ownership: MEG Energy Corporation 100%

Project: Surmont - ConocoPhillips
Operator: Canada Limited
bbls/day of Syn Crude: N/A
Ownership: ConocoPhillips Canada Limited 100%

Project: ConocoPhillips
Operator: ConocoPhillips Canada
bbls/day of Syn Crude: N/A
Ownership: Canada Limited 50%
Total E&P Canada Ltd. 50%

Project: Great Divide
Operator: Connacher Oil And Gas Limited
bbls/day of Syn Crude: N/A
Ownership: Connacher Oil And Gas Limited 100%

Project: Kai Kos Dehseh
Operator: Statoil
bbls/day of Syn Crude: N/A
Ownership: Statoil 60%
PTT Exploration and Production 40%

Project: Hangingstone Pilot
Operator: Japan Canada Oil Sands Limited
bbls/day of Syn Crude: N/A
Ownership: Japan Canada Oil Sands Limited 100%

Project: Kearl
Operator: Imperial Oil Limited
bbls/day of Syn Crude: N/A
Ownership: ExxonMobil Canada Energy 29.04%
Imperial Oil Limited 70.96%
 
Works Cited
Buffalo, R. M. (2,014, March 25). Fort McMurray. Retrieved from Regional Munincipality of Wood Buffalo: Fort McMurray
Canada, S. (2014, March 19). Estimates of population, Canada, provinces and territories. Retrieved from CanSim: CANSIM - 051-0005 - Estimates of population, Canada, provinces and territories
Canadian OILSANDS Navigator. (2,013, February 8). Retrieved from Oilsands Review: Canadian Oilsands Navigator
Edemariam, A. (2,007, October 29). Mud, sweat and tears. Retrieved from The Guardian: Aida Edemariam on the environmental impact of the tar sands of Alberta in Canada | Environment | The Guardian
Land and freshwater area, by province and territory. (2,005, February 1). Retrieved from Statistics Canada: Land and freshwater area, by province and territory
Lewis, B., Ljunggren, D., & and Jones, J. (2,012, May 10). Insight: Canada's oil sand battle with Europe. Retrieved from Chicago Tribune: Insight: Canada's oil sand battle with Europe - Chicago Tribune
Muck and brass. (2,011, January 20). Retrieved from The Economist: Canada's tar sands: Muck and brass | The Economist
Reclaiming Alberta's Oil Sands. (2,013, October 19). Retrieved from Government of Alberta: Reclaiming Alberta's Oil Sands – Alberta Environment
TransCanada. (2,014, February 20). Myths & Facts. Retrieved from Keystone XL Pipeline: Myths & Facts | Keystone XL Pipeline

[Cobb]

You know? I was going to read this, but decided to update my surface 2 tablet.

[Thenorm]

I'm actually in Fort McMurray right now working on developing an oil sands project.

right are you trying to say with your essay? is it complete?

are you outlining the basics of oil sand production?
are you just providing a outline of the economic development in the region?
Is this about city planning?

-Norm

[Xist]

Originally Posted by Cobb

You know? I was going to read this, but decided to update my surface 2 tablet.

Grats?

Originally Posted by Thenorm

I'm actually in Fort McMurray right now working on developing an oil sands project.

right are you trying to say with your essay? is it complete?

are you outlining the basics of oil sand production?
are you just providing a outline of the economic development in the region?
Is this about city planning?

-Norm

Norm, I wish that I had put this in my calendar and actually planned ahead. I will put our instructions, I felt lost at first, and then it seemed like I was spending all of my time researching individual details.

Choose an "energy town" and develop its "geography of energy". Pick one of the following: Uranium City, Saskatchewan; Ft. McMurray, Alberta; Houston, Texas; Farmington, New Mexico; Gillette, Wyoming; Baku, Azerbaijan; Stavanger, Norway; Port Harcourt, Nigeria; Calgary, Alberta; Perth, Australia; Abu Dhabi, UAE; Aberdeen, Scotland.

You are responsible for working out what should be included, but remember that geography is a “spatial” science that concentrates on the surface of the Earth, so that means it could include such themes as location, distribution, siting, movement,relationships with other places, interactions between nature and society, and so forth. You may take any angle on this assignment that you want, although you should be certain to defend what you choose as fitting into the geography of the city you stress.

No more than 500 words, plus graphics
* Include source data and description of any graphs, images, etc. that you include in your paper. Don't include things and not explain to your audience why you put them in the paper!
* If you use information from another person, you MUST cite it appropriately. If you paraphrase or include any statistics, you must have the proper citation.

15 points

Save the document by your last name and put 'energy town" in the subject line.

Due: by e-mail to our TA by April 15th

I already submitted this, even though it is horribly incomplete, but I will come back as I have time to try to make it clearer.

[Xist]

I revised my original post. Honestly, after all of that research, I really feel like I have little to show for it. I need to go back through and put in transitions so that it has some flow, but I do not plan on researching further.

Norm, what are your impressions of the area? I spent a while just trying to understand, it is not a city in a country or any equivalent thereof, but something far more complicated to me.

I read a couple of times that it was definitely a boomtown, with the highest housing rates in all of Alberta. How much does gas cost?

[Thenorm]

Fort Mac is a dirty town. maybe thats just the sand on the roads, because its frigid winter 6 months of the year.

It is in the middle of no where.
The next tiny town is over 100 miles away. The nearest proper city is Edmonton 300 miles away. The land here is fairly flat, and all boreal forest (pine and birch trees as far as you can see)
It's very obvious that this town solely exists for the oil sands. There is lots of money here.
Cashiers at fast food restaurants make 15-$20 and hour. An junior mining engineer fresh out of school starts at 85k per year.

ITs a huge boom town and only getting bigger. The transient population (fly in fly out workers) outnumber the permanent population. u said there were 75000 people here. but there are another 100000 transient.

housing costs are huge. a 2 bedroom appartment cost ~$350,000. House are half million or more. Thats almost as much as it costs to live in Vancouver. the furnished short term 2 bedroom appartment that the company rents for me cost $4500 a month.
Gas is fairly normal priced. There arent any refineries here, so they have to truck it in from Edmonton, so its 10c a litre more. so, $1.30 per litre. so about 5$ a gallon.

[freebeard]

I am still not sure what "The geography of energy" is supposed to mean.

It's a post-modern attack on free thought. It works whether you understand it or not.

The word they are looking for is:

->Petcoke<-

[Xist]

Norm, how nice is that apartment? My old one-bedroom was month-to-month and furnished, for about one-ninth that amount, but it was a hole!

The population figures were from 2,010.

How much of the housing there is "permament?" How much does a meal at a fast-food place cost?

From what I read, some of the larger projects refine the bitumen, but is that even the right word? They synthesize crude from that, but the refineries are in Edmonton (or further)?

Do you know if there are plans to change that? If you go through a ton of bitumen to make a drum of crude and you cannot produce a drum of fuel from a drum of oil, wouldn't it make sense to do all of your processing as close to the mine as possible and reduce shipping?

Easier said than done, right?

Thanks for answering my questions! This is better than hours of research!

[Thenorm]

the apartment looks nice. its about 1000 sq ft. but i think its cheaply made. i joke that its made of popsicle sticks and paper mache.

many of the transient workers live in "camps" at the mine sites. their shifts are generally 14 days straight of 12 hour days. so commuting the hour or more back to town doesnt make sense. the camps would be dormitory style housing. soume would have shared bathrooms. cafeteria style food, commom relaxing room and gyms, etc.

there is probably houses and apartments for about 125k people. the rest are in camps. remember though that the census only reord permanent residents

the cost of food is only a little bit more expensive. maybe 10 or 20% more. you can still get a Mdonalds meal for 6-8$ (remember canada is already more expensive than the US in that regard)

so quick breakdown on the processes.

for oil sands near the surface.
1. mine it using big shovels and trucks.
2. crush the ore then repulp it in hot water, inject air. pump the slurry 5km to the plant
3. the bitumen floats to form a froth, the sand sinks to form tailings.
4. bitumen cant be pumped on its own its too viscous so they add naptha as a solvent to dilute it.
5. pump the diluted bitumen to the upgraders which are near edmonton.
6. separate the naptha, send it back to the mine. "Upgrade" the bitumen which involve distilation, coking and cracking and the long carbon chains to produce sythentic crude.
7. sell the syncrude to a refinery to make diesel and gasoline. some refineries are near edmonton. or the syncrude is sent to the US, or west to Vancouver where it can be sent over to asia.

for the deep deposits the mine in situ.
1. pump steam underground
2. it heats up and reduces the viscosity of the bitumen allowing it to flow.
3. pump out the bitumen. send it to the upgraders.

100 barels of bitumen yields about 70 barrels of syncrude. the rest is ashpaltene and coke. these byproducts do have some value, so all is not lost.
it is energy intensive. to make 100 barrels of bitumen requires 20 barrels of oil for energy (steam, power, etc)