Tar sand

This large Caterpillar 793 dump truck requires a very large loader to fill it. Note how small the driver's cab is, located about five metres above the ground.

The larger loaders used in the tar sands fields can lift 100 tonnes of sand in a single scoop.

The term tar sands refers to deposits of very heavy petroleum. Both Canada and Venezuala have large reserves of tar sands.

Tar sand petroleum is very hard to extract, very hard to ship, very hard to refine, and contains toxic additives, like Sulfur. When the per barrel price of oil goes down, tar sand fields are shut down, because it is no longer economic to extract it, at a low price.

In Canada very large bucket loaders scoop up tar sands, and deposit it into very large dump trucks. Alternatively, long booms, with a ferris wheel of buckets, are swung across the extraction field, bringing the tar sands to a central place using conveyor belts.

Two barrels of fresh water are required for every barrel of tar sands extracted.

In recent decades industry publicists have succeeded in getting journalists to use the less alarming term "oil sands", instead of "tar sands", in the United States and Canada.

Countries with significant reserves of tar sands

Countries with significant reserves of tar sands

country	estimated reserves	recent <br/exports	notes
Canada	160 billion barrels
Venezuala
Surinam