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Alberta Tar Sands

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Alberta's extensive tar sands deposits are said to constitute half the world's tar sands.

Most of the world's tar sands are found in Canada and Venezuala, and , in Canada, most of that are Alberta tar sands.[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][8][12][13]

Alberta's tar sands cover an area comparable to the State of Florida. Most of the Alberta tar sands are found in the part of Alberta covered by boreal forests.

Alberta's largest deposit, the Athabasca tar sands, is shallow enough it can be accessed using open pit mining.

References

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  1. ↑ WW Nassichuk (December 1967). "Forty Years of Northern Non-Renewable Natural Resource ..." (PDF). Arctic (journal). University of Calgary. 40 (10): 274–282. Retrieved 2026-03-16. In 1962, Triassic tar sands were discovered on northwestern Melville Island. The discovery was made independently by Alan Spector, of the Earth Physics Branch (Department of Mines and Technical Surveys, now Energy, Mines and Resources), and by a party of J.C. Sproule and Associates Ltd. The deposits were evaluated by Trettin and Hills (1966), who noted that approximately 16 million m^3 of oil may be contained therein.
  2. ↑ "Canada is consistently the top supplier of oil imports to the United States". United States Department of Energy. Retrieved 2010-06-21. In 2008, oil sands production represented approximately half of Canada’s total crude oil production. The Athabasca oil sands deposit in northern Alberta is one of largest oil sands deposits in the world. There are also sizable oil sands deposits on Melville Island in the Canadian Arctic, and two smaller deposits in northern Alberta near Cold Lake and Peace River.
  3. ↑ Thomas Gentzisa; Fariborz Goodarzib (June 1993). "Regional thermal maturity in the Franklinian Mobile Belt, Melville Island, Arctic Canada". 10 (3). Marine and Petroleum Geology. pp. 215–230. Retrieved 2010-06-21.
  4. ↑ "Canada's Arctic". Government of Alberta. Retrieved 2010-06-21. The first Arctic Island well was drilled in 1961-62 by Dome Petroleum on Melville Island. Other wells followed on Cornwallis and Bathurst Islands. Although wells were abandoned, Melville Island was the site of further significant gas discoveries. Panarctic Petroleum, made up of industry and government initiatives, found gas at Drake Point on Melville Island in 1969.
  5. ↑ "Canadian Arctic Islands" (PDF). Retrieved 2010-06-21. Oil shows in Mesozic sandstones at many localities within the western basin, e.g., Marie Bay tar sands on Melville Island (Bjorne Formation)
  6. ↑ H. P. Trettin; L. V. Hills (1967-04-02). "Triassic Tar Sands of Melville Island, Canadian Arctic Archipelago". Onepetro. Retrieved 2010-06-30.
  7. ↑ Robert Meneley (2008). "The Significance of Oil in the Sverdrup Basin" (PDF). Retrieved 2010-06-30. The 100 million barrel tar sand deposit at Marie Bay (Trettin and Hills, 1966) on western Melville Island is held in a possible stratigraphic trap in the Bjorne Formation where conventional oil has been highly degraded by exposure at surface.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Bruce Biossat (1973-11-23). "An oil-hungry world eyes Alberta's sand". Rome News-Tribune. Retrieved 2010-06-22. Great as is the Athabasca spread, where real scientific exploration began just 60 years ago, it's not the full story. Alberta hold three other oil sands deposits -- Wabasca just southwest of Athabasca, Cold Lake to the south, Peace River to the west.
  9. ↑ "Premium Petroleum Corp. Increases Lands Position to 11,520 Acres" (Press release). Premium Petroleum Corp. 2007-09-19. Retrieved 2010-06-22. According to the Petroleum Economist: "Although tar sands occur in more than 70 countries, the bulk is found in Canada in four regions: Athabasca, Wabasca, Cold Lake, and Peace River; together covering an area of some 77,000 km2.
  10. ↑ O.P. Strausz. "The Chemistry of the Alberta Oil Sand Bitumen" (PDF). University of Alberta. Retrieved 2010-06-22.
  11. ↑ "Oil and Gas". Peace River: Peace Region Economic Development Alliance. 2010. Retrieved 2012-11-05. These oil sands consist of deposits of underground bitumen; thick heavy oil within a sand reservoir. Shell Canada developed these deposits by injecting steam under pressure into the ground to separate the bitumen from the sand. It may take several months of steam heating to enable the bitumen to be pumped up through the well. As the well cools, production declines, at which time the cycle begins anew.
  12. ↑ Tom Cohen (2003-02-23). "Canada's oil sands gain importance in an unstable political climate". The Dispatch. Retrieved 2010-06-22. Stringham said total investment in the oil sands -- which include the Athabasca River, Cold Lake and Peace River regions around Fort McMurray, 210 miles northeast of Edmonton -- was $11.3 billion from 1996-2001, with another $4.6 billion on new projects under construction and at least $16.6 billion more in potential projects through 2010.
  13. ↑ "Don't cancel oil sands plants Alberta warns". Montreal Gazette. 1980-11-19. Retrieved 2010-06-22. Ottawa would inflict serious economic losses on all Canada if it cancels development of Alberta's two oil sands plants, Alberta Energy Minister Merv Leitch said yesterday. Leitch said the Alsands and Cold Lake plants could be developed for export production if the oil is not needed for eastern Canadian use.
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